Postcard History

Today when you arrive in a city, you have a choice of cookie-cutter hotels, none of which possess an individual identity. In the past, hotels were named after special people: U.S. presidents, explorers, historical figures, or even a pirate. The namesake was usually connected to the city where the hotel was located. Their name assured potential lodgers that the facility was first rate.

Jacksonville, Florida

The Hotel George Washington proclaimed itself, “The Wonder Hotel of the South.” Built in 1926, the 15-story hotel had 350 rooms. Within the hotel was a nightclub named the Rainbow Room featuring live orchestras and floor shows. In 1941, the 2,000-seat George Washington Auditorium was built adjoining the hotel and it became the center of Jacksonville’s social life, hosting balls and concerts. Atop the hotel, there was a massive neon sign, the first in Jacksonville. Rare for the era, the entire hotel was air conditioned, and each room had radios and circulating ice water.

Late in the 1960s, the Hotel George Washington began to fall into disrepair after the original owner sold it in 1963. The hotel operated until 1971 and was demolished in 1973.

St. Louis, Missouri

The Marquette Hotel was named for Jacques Marquette, the French Jesuit priest and explorer who mapped the upper portion of the Mississippi River. The construction costs in 1907 were $750,000. The Marquette was ten stories tall and stood at the southeast corner of Washington Avenue and 18^th Street. The Marquette had 400 rooms and was constructed to serve business travelers to the city’s wholesale district. It also provided lodging for passengers arriving at nearby Union Station.

In the 1940s, the Marquette became part of the Milner Hotel Chain (one of the first hotel chains in the United States) and it was rebranded the Milner Hotel. It closed in 1977 after efforts to rehabilitate it failed. The Marquette was demolished in 1988 despite being listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Pottsville, Pennsylvania

During the first half of the twentieth century, Pottsville prospered due to the anthracite coal fields nearby. The Necho Allen Hotel opened on November 4, 1927, and instantly became a treasured hallmark. According to local legend, Necho Allen discovered coal when his campfire ignited a coal-outcropping on Broad Mountain where he had camped for an evening. (Broad Mountain is in Schuylkill County, about 100 miles northwest of Philadelphia).

A newspaper article on its opening proclaimed it the million-dollar hotel. The Necho Allen had 165 rooms and an ornate lobby with red leather high back Chippendale chairs. Its elegant main dining room could seat three hundred. A lounge off the lobby decorated in late English and early American themes featured a 9” x 16” mural depicting Necho Allen’s discovery of coal. The hotel’s 1,800 square-foot ballroom hosted the Pottsville Assembly, a New Year’s Eve gala for the region’s elite. Novelist John O’Hara, a Pottsville native, memorialized the Assembly in his writings.

The Necho Allen Hotel closed in 1985. Still named the Necho Allen, the building now houses a low-income senior citizens apartment complex.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Although associated with Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston and fled to Philadelphia when he was a teenager to escape an apprenticeship under his older brother.

The Benjamin Franklin Hotel opened in January 1925 and was a popular hotel for several decades. Eighteen stories high, its 1,220 rooms made it the largest hotel in the City of Brotherly Love. When Philadelphia hosted the Army – Navy Football Game, the Franklin served as the headquarters hotel for the Army team and its supporters.

The hotel closed in 1980. Today the Benjamin Franklin is known as the Franklin Residences housing 412 apartments and office space. The ballroom is still a popular venue for weddings and other events.

Raleigh, North Carolina

The Sir Walter Hotel opened in 1924. It was named for Sir Walter Raleigh, an English statesman, soldier, and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan Era, Raleigh was instrumental in establishing the first English colony in America on North Carolina’s Roanoke island in 1587. The disappearance of the colonists is one of the enduring mysteries of American history.

Located on Fayetteville Street, then Raleigh’s main thoroughfare, the hotel’s ten stories dominated the Raleigh skyline for decades and was the social, political, and business hub of the city. The hotel had radios in every room as well as circulating ice water. There was a Turkish bath, an airconditioned restaurant, and a drugstore on the premises.

In 1938, its owners added fifty rooms, making it the largest hotel in North Carolina. It hosted numerous large conventions over the next three decades. During the legislative session, 80% of the state legislators stayed there as well as numerous lobbyists. The Sir Walter began to decline in the 1960s and was converted to senior apartments in the 1970s.

Elizabeth City, North Carolina

The Virginia Dare Hotel and Arcade was nine stories tall and it was the first and only skyscraper in Elizabeth City. Opened in November 1927, it had one hundred rooms and an attached garage with a filling station. The two-story arcade housed local businesses.

Civic leaders built the hotel, seeing it as vital to the development of eastern North Carolina. The hotel was named for Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the New World. Born in August 1587, Dare and the rest of the over one hundred Roanoke Island colonists disappeared without a trace.

During its heyday, the Virginia Dare was known for its Sunday dinners of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and southern style green beans. In 2018, the Virginia Dare was converted into a senior apartment community with sixty-eight units.

Galveston, Texas

The ten-story Hotel Jean Lafitte opened in 1927. It was named for the French pirate who operated from Galveston and aided General Andrew Jackson during the 1815 Battle of New Orleans. Located in downtown Galveston, there were 203 guest rooms all with an adjoining hot-and-cold water bath as well as circulating ice water. Rooms were richly decorated and equipped with a ceiling fan, a necessity in Galveston’s humid climate.

The Jean Lafitte prospered for many years but was a vacant derelict by the end of the 1990s. It was heavily damaged during Hurricane Ike in 2008.

In 2009, it was renovated and converted into an apartment building. The renovation tried to save as many of the historic details as possible.

Savannah, Georgia

The Hotel DeSoto was named for the Spanish conquistador, Hernando de Soto. Between 1539 and 1542, de Soto led an expedition that explored the southeastern United States and discovered the Mississippi River. Although de Soto’s expedition marched across Georgia, there is no historical evidence that he reached Savannah.

Opened on New Year’s Day in 1890, the DeSoto remained the center of the city’s social life for several decades. It had 300 rooms, a swimming pool, and a solarium. The hotel combined Romanesque Revival and Queen Anne architectural styles. It was nicknamed the Dowager Empress of the South.

Showing its age, the DeSoto closed in 1965 and was demolished. A modern Hotel DeSoto is now on the site.