In the years following the Wall Street stock market crash of 1929, the resort went into a steady decline, but it did not close. To survive the financial challenges of the Great Depression and an increase in completion from other resorts in the United States, the French Lick hotel was promoted as a recreational resort with an emphasis on golf and convention business instead of a health spa. After a brief revival during World War II, it fell into another decline. Thomas D. Taggart sold the hotel to a group of New York City investors in 1946 Pluto Water operations were separated from the resort's operations in 1948. The resort was sold to Sheraton Hotels in 1954 and renamed the French Lick-Sheraton Hotel. Although the Sheraton chain spent "millions of dollars" to improve the facilities, French Lick's physical condition continued to decline. Sheraton sold the hotel to Cox Hotel Corporation of New York in 1979. Cox returned the resort to its original name and sold the property to Kenwood Financial in 1986. The Luther James family of Louisville, Kentucky, acquired the hotel in 1991, and Boykin Lodging of Cleveland, Ohio, bought it in 1997. The Cook Group, headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana, purchased the hotel on April 13, 2005.