Hell-Bourg

[3] However, the eventual transformation was not to be stopped, especially after construction of a hotel was ordered by colonial authorities in 1839,[4] and a military hospital associated with the spring finished in 1857.

[7] The popularity was partly due to spas being marketed widely as a cure to many of the health problems and diseases that afflicted Europeans in the colonial tropics.

However, in 1920 the water temperature dropped and boiling was required to heat it to the accustomated state which in turn destroyed some of the chemical elements.

[6] In late September 1942, the Vichy authorities on Réunion relocated from Saint-Denis to Hell-Bourg, fearing a potential Allied invasion.

The spring was finally fully blocked by a cyclone-related landslide in 1948 (as were, temporarily, the roads leading to Hell-Bourg) and the village quickly lost the importance which had originally caused it to flourish in the difficult mountainous region.