HOTELS

There was a time, in the early days of Akron, when the Sumner House on North Howard Street and Federal Street, was the town's leading hotel. It was built on East Market by Julius A. Sumner, who was born in Vermont in 1802, and in 1818, with his father, was engaged in business in old Middlebury. Sumner was one of the out-standing characters of early Akron. He was one of the first tavern keepers here. One of his houses was the old Ohio Exchange. Sumner built both the Empire and Sumner hotels. Both places, in their time, housed many famous men of the country, among them being Presidents, Governors, leading actors and actresses of the time. It was in the Sumner Opera House, a. part of the hotel, that Akron's famous "Calico Ball" was held 66 years ago. When a boy, Sen. Charles W. Dick sold peanuts, candy and popcorn in that old playhouse. The early actors came here from Cleveland on canal boats.

The Sumner House was destroyed by fire on October 31, 1876 and was rebuilt by the owner and was operated by his son, Charles Sumner with George Hutton as manager. It was enlarged to contain 64 rooms instead of the original 48 but most of the rooms were small and shabbily furnished. However, Manager Hutton set a good table, much better than the Empire. The Sumner mostly accommodated the traveling man.

 

 

 

The Empire House

 

The Empire House by Karl Grismer

 

 

 

Portage Hotel

With the booming of Akron caused by the phenomenal growth of its rubber plants came an acute hotel shortage. The stately Buchtel, once the city's pride, had become outdated. The ancient Empire House looked upon as a Class Z hotel and the Windsor had degenerated sadly. A few others existed but actually they were only poor rooming houses.

A group of local men banded together early to provide a modern hotel early in 1911. They built an eight-story 170 room Portage Hotel on the site of the old Empire House at the cost of $600,000.

M. O'Neil, president of the M. O'Neil Company, was president of the building company; W.B. Miller, vice-president of the Diamond Rubber Co., was vice-president; G.B. Motz, was secretary, and Harry Williams, president of the National City Bank, was treasurer. Directors were O'Neil, Miller, A.H. Marks, C.B. Raymond, O.C. Barber, F.A. Dudly and A.H. Noah.

Work on the hotel was started on April 1, 1911, and it was opened with a grand celebration Tuesday evening Practically every VIP in Akron attended the formal opening. More than 800 were served at two dinners, the first at 6pm and the second at 8:30. The festivities lasted all night. The Times reported:

"Akron's beauty and chivalry gathered last evening to celebrate the completion of one of the finest hostelries in the state of Ohio. The beautiful women, gowned in the height of fashion, with the men who had made Akron known throughout the world for its industrial and commercial progress, mingled in the spacious lobby which was a bower of beauty with its rich furnishings and complimentary floral pieces sent by Akron's other hotels and business houses and from all over the country, made the scene one of rare beauty."

 

 

Cascade House & Windsor Hotel

Ferdinand Schumacher entered the hotel business in 1875. But he did not enter the hotel business to provide better accommodations for Akron's visitors - what he was interested in was to provide them with a place to stay where they would not be tempted by John Barleycorn.

Schumacher was an ardent prohibitionist, in later years he spent a large portion of his fortune backing the temperance town of Harriman, Tenn. an ill-starred venture.

In the 1870's all the hotels in Akron, even the smallest, had barrooms. None of them forced their guests to drink, of course, but Schumacher firmly believed that the proximity of the barrooms made it difficult for guests to resist temptation.

To rectify this state of affairs, Schumacher purchased the old frame church of the Methodist Episcopalians when the congregation moved into its new church in April, 1875, and had the building moved from Church and Broadway to the southwest corner of Mill and Summit, across the street from the Union Depot.

After extensive remodeling the former church building was opened late in 1875 as the Cascade House - inasmuch as Schumacher was the principal owner of the Cascade Mill Race he liked the name.

The Cascade was strictly a temperance hotel. Schumacher laid down rigid rules forbidding the sale of serving of alcoholic drinks under any circumstances. Furthermore, he let it be known that any bellhop caught snuggling drinks into hotel rooms would be fired.

All the rooms in the Cascade House were filled almost every night. It wasn't because Akron's visitors favored dry hotels, many salesmen came to Akron to get business from the Schumacher Mills. Mr. Schumacher always made a point to ask them where they were staying. Salesmen who were not registered at the Cascade had slim chances of getting orders.

Be that as it may, the Cascade prospered so well that in 1878 Schumacher opened another temperance hotel. He purchased the old May's Building on the northwest corner of main and Exchange, erected in 1837, remodeled it for hotel use and named it the Clarendon. The Clarendon Hotel was later destroyed by fire November 5, 1912 with a reported loss of $46,553.

In 1882, just before he started building his giant Jumbo Mill, Schumacher moved the Cascade House to the northeast corner of Mill and Broadway, greatly enlarged it, beautified it with a brick veneer, constructed wide verandas and a lofty tower, and renamed it the Windsor Hotel. It was opened for business on a strictly temperance basis and without ceremonies before 1882 ended.

The hotel had no barroom during his ownership, although ironically many years later, after Schumacher's death the Windsor became notorious as a bootleg joint.

 

 

Buchtel Hotel

Akron's best hotel for 25 years was built by William Buchtel in 1884. He was criticized severely for building the hotel so far South on Main Street. The only good structure in that vicinity was the Masonic Temple a block away. At that time there were nothing else nearby except lumber yards, coal yards and tumble down shacks. The closing of the P. & O. Canal north of Mill had not yet been authorized and Main Street wasn't really a street at all. But Mr. Buchtel was certain the business section was bound to shift from Hall's Corner section and he was quite willing to help in the shifting process. So he proceeded with construction and his fine hotel, which he named Buchtel, was completed in in the early spring of 1884.

Five stories high, built of brick and stone the Akron Times enthusiastically declared that it was the first hotel in the world which had an electric light plant powerful enough to furnish lights in every room. The hotel even had an elevator that was operated by water power.

The formal opening of the hotel was held on Wednesday April 16, 1884 and was a social event of the first magnitude.

On the committee of arrangements were many of the most prominent men of the city: George W. Crouse, Col. D.W. Thomas, Col. A.L. Conger, John R. Buchtel, Paul E. Werner, W.G. Robinson, William Hardie, Ira M. Miller, William C. Allen, F.M. Atterholt, Dayton A. Doyle, Dr. G.G. Baker, D.R. Paige, C.E. Sheldon, H.H. Brown, H.J. Church, J. Koch, C.P Humphrey, Henry Perkins, F.O. Weary, George R. Hilt, and James Housel. Col. Simon Perkins and Philo Chamberlin were honorary members.

To provide a large ballroom for dancing, Buchtel rented the second floor of the newly constructed Ayliffe Blcok on the opposite side of the mill, and to provide access to it he built a wooden viaduct of heavy timbers twenty feet above Mill Street. The viaduct was covered by a canopy and brilliantly lighted with electric lights.

Weather for the formal opening was not favorable. Cold winds blew and rain descended in a steady drizzle. But the weather did not keep the crowd away. More than four hundred Akronites attended as well as scores of people from out of town.

The Times reported the following day: "The dresses worn by the ladies were undoubtedly the richest and most elaborate ever displayed in this city. Some special dresses were of beautiful pink or lavender or snow-white silk, while the rich sable was displayed in all its elegance. There was such a display of diamonds and sparkling jewelry that the figures appeared to be fairly ablaze as the merry dancers skimmed lightly over the floor"

Music for the dance was furnished by the Germania Orchestra of Cleveland and the first two dancers who wnet on the dance floor were Charles W. Seiberling and Miss Alice Cook, the latter from Cuyahoga Falls.

The crowd was so large that the guests continued to be served in the banquet hall until two o'clock the next morning. The Times added that it was daybreak when the last of the celebrators left the hotel.

The Buchtel was the leading hotel of Akron for 28 years.

It was deemed unsafe and torn down in 1947. At that time the building was owned by the Citizens Savings & Loan Co. of Mansfield.

 

 

 

Young's Hotel

Young's Hotel opened in 1850 on the southeast shore of Nesmith Lake, near the point where Manchester Road crossed the Ohio Canal.

 

American House

This photo was probably taken around 1860. The American House was on North Howard near Market street. It was owned and operated by German-born Florenz Weber, who came to Akron in 1832.

 

 

Barberton Inn

Shortly after Ohio Columbus Barber founded Barberton in 1890, he built this $75,000 inn on the shore of Lake Anna, the 18 acre pond he named for his daughter. The inn had 50 sleeping rooms and 25 "special rooms fitted up in the most modern style".

 

 

Hotel Howard - 1910

For forty years (1885-1925) William R. Palmer was Akron's premier band leader. He brought the city fame by organizing the 8th Regiment Band, Ohio National Guard, and leading it in nationwide concert tours. Alumni of that group joined Mr. Palmer in the band pictured above. This photo was taken on East Market Street. A corner of the old Carnegie Library (now the Akron Art Institute) is visible to the left. The hotel had many names before its demolition.

 

Kepler's Hotel Turkey Foot Lake near Akron Ohio

 

Postcard of Richfield Hotel in Akron

 

 

Stagecoach Inn, Richfield

Weld and Chittendon, master builders from Connecticut, constructed this inn at Brecksville Road and Route 303 in 1820-1823. Shown about 1900 are Dr. Ewing, the local doctor, and the inn's proprietor, Fayette Viall. The smaller building is Sykes' Store.

 

 

Hotel Bond & The Marne

Two of Akron's leading medium-priced hotels of the 1920's and 30's were on opposite sides of South Main Street toward Exchange. Hotel Bond housed the Commercial Savings and Trust on ground level, with the hotel entrance to the right. Up the street was the Marne, with the Allen Theatre on its street floor. It was torn down in 1982.

 

 

Big Falls Hotel

Combination atlas map of Summit County, Ohio / compiled, drawn and published from personal examinations and surveys by Tackabury, Mead & Moffett, Philadelphia, Tackabury, Mead & Moffett, 1874

 

 

Other Hotels

• The Clarendon (George Kyte) was located on the corner of South Main and East Exchange.

• Arlington Hotel (Nicholas Huber) was located on West Market and North Canal streets.

• Main Street House (Adamn G. Ranck) was located at 244 N. Main Street.

• Rostock's Hotel (Max Rostock) was located at 149, 151 North Howard.

• Clark Hotel (Lewis Humiston, postmaster). Clark was a two story frame tavern on Exchange was run by Dr. Rufus Pierce.

• Summit House located on West Exchange was operated by first Lyman Green then in 1839 Samuel Edgerly.

• Pavilion House (Charles Cobb)

• Ohio Exchange was a three story brick building located on Market and Main streets. The hotel was erected by General Duthan Northrop of Medina. It was the most popular hotel in this part of the Reserve for more than a decade. All visiting celebrities stopped there and it was the scene of many social gatherings. To care for the horses of guests, a large livery stable was built next door.

• Fred S. Ozier and his brother-in-law, George Lowery, both of Mansfield, leased the old Kryder property a little south of market from Mrs. Minor Howe, who then owned it, and erected the 11-story Howe Hotel. It was opened in early 1915.

 

Photos from:

Photograph Archives. Cuyahoga Falls Library, Cuyahoga Falls, OH.

 

Combination atlas map of Summit County, Ohio / compiled, drawn and published from

     personal examinations and surveys by Tackabury, Mead & Moffett, Philadelphia,

     Tackabury, Mead & Moffett, 1874

 

Third Empire House photo - Courtesy of Sharon Weaver. Taken by George J. Snook who had a Gallery opposite the P. O. Akron, Ohio

Information adapted from:

Lane, Samuel A. Fifty Years and Over, The History of Summit County. Beacon
     Job Department, 1892. 528.

Grismer, Karl H. Akron and Summit County. Akron, OH: Summit County Historical
     Society, n.d.