USA > Indiana > St Joseph County > A history of St. Joseph County, Indiana, Volume 1 > Part 70
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The Grand Central Hotel, on South Michi- gan street, 114-116, was built and owned by Daniel M. Shively. Henry C. Knill was the first proprietor, opening in 1875. M. L. Den- nis succeeded Mr. Knill in 1882. Frank Knill, Thomas Ragan, Henry C. Needham, A. K. Price, George W. Reynolds, S. II. Rice, War- ner B. Titus and Mrs. S. J. Junkin followed in order as the lessees. Under Mr. Reynold's regime the name was changed to Reynold's House ; under Mr. Titus' to Titus House ; and now it is the Columbia. It was the first house in South Bend to introduce the passenger ele- vator, having put in one of these in May, 1879, and was the only hotel in the city with such a convenience till the opening of the new Oliver.
The European Hotel,a afterwards used as the Y. M. C. A. hall. 122-124 Sonth Main street, was erected by Dr. Robert Harris and Edward M. Irvin in 1880, and was opened by L. II. Packard the following year. In 1883, Mrs. Anna R. Smith became the pro- prietress, and changed the name to Hotel Bris- tol. under whose management the establish- ment eked out a precarious existence for about two years, when it was finally elosed as a hotel.
The Grand View Hotel, on the northeast corner of St. Joseph street and Vistula ave- ne, was built by Christopher Muessel in 1892-3, and opened Angust 11. 1893, by John Ober. Then came, in order, Byron L. MeEl- rath, September 28, 1896; Godfrey E. Knight, March, 1897 ; Mrs. Ida Powell, June, 1898: T. M. Morrison, March, 1899, who changed the name to The Morrison. It is now called the a. See Chap. 11, Subd. 6, Sec. 11.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
Avenue Hotel. The building is a substantial and sightly four story briek and the view from the location is one of the most pietur- esque in the city. It is the property of the heirs of the original projector, as above stated.
The Exchange Hotel, now known as the Sheridan House, was erected in 1840 by Wil- liam L. Earl. who was its first landlord. It is located on the southwest corner of Michigan street and La Salle avenue, formerly Water street. This was originally the heart of the little town. On the northeast corner of the same streets was the Indian trading post of the American Fur Company, in charge of Alexis Coquillard, which he called the "Big St. Joseph's Station." At this point, too, was the first ferry across the St. Joseph. Naturally enough, therefore, was the place selected for the Exchange Hotel, which, under different names, has prospered to this day. It was for a time managed by Mr. Gibbs, and known as the Gibbs House. Dwight Deming also had charge of it for a long time, when it was known as the Dwight House. Samuel Ragan owned it for a time and called it the Sheridan House, after the great Union gen- eral. On being enlarged and improved a few years ago it received its present name, the New Sheridan. Other proprietors have been, Captain Mills, Jeremiah H. Knight, George Horn, William Mason, John F. Kirby. In 1895, it came into the hands of Bird Biekford who managed it until his death, since when it has been in charge of his family. It is, and has always been, an excellent hotel.
The Hotel Johnson, now the Lafayette Hotel, situated adjacent to the Grand Trunk passenger station on the north side, was built by Johnson & May, in 1895. It was badly damaged before its completion by the burn- ing of John R. Shank's livery barn, and was purchased by Charles L. Goetz and the late Louis Benz and leased by them, June 1, 1896, to Alexander Curtis, who at once won a liberal patronage and has since maintained the stand as a favorite resort for the local and transient public. Mr. Curtis was by no means a novice in the hotel business, having, previously, long and acceptably filled that station at the Mil- burn House, Mishawaka. He also, by the way, belongs to one of Penn township's earliest pioneer families, being himself a native of that section, not of yesterday, either. He bears vivid recollections of the luxuries of the round-log cabin, the country schoolmaster's hickory sprout, and corn-hoeing barefoot
among the nettles, as well as do some of the rest of us.
Under the heading of "hotels" the follow- ing houses are mentioned in the city director- ies, but were perhaps more in the nature of boarding houses than hotels: Emmet House, corner of Franklin and South streets, F. Sul- livan. 1869-70-71-72. 1871-72. Kunstman House, 125 South Michigan street, Andrew Kunstman, and, later, Conrad Oltsch; and Union House, corner of Michigan and Center streets, Franz Baner, Jr., later Arnold & Vahlert, and now John C. Wagner. 1873-74, Lafayette House, 77 Michigan street (old numbering), George Knobloek & Son. 1876, South Bend House, 76 Michigan street, Frank Ambos. 1889, Hotel Royal, 117 West Wash- ington street, Mrs. M. Vanderhoof. 1892, Hotel Washington, 538 South Scott street, M. Pfaffenbach.
The Second St. Joseph Hotel is the quaint looking three-story brick, with four dormer windows now known as 115-117 Colfax ave- nue, and partly occupied by Schuler & Klin- gel, the wholesale fruit, feed, and produce dealers. It was built and owned by the late David Greenwalt, being planned expressly for a hotel. Mr. Greenwalt was from Lebanon, Pa., and had the peculiar Pennsylvania ideas of architecture. The brick building on Water street directly north of this hotel presents another example of Mr. Greenwalt's arehitec- tural taste, as did the J. F. Studebaker resi- dence, before remodeled, just east of Sunny- side.
The hotel was opened September 10, 1868, by Chauncey Nichols, formerly of the Bond House, of Niles, as proprietor, and L. H. Pack- ard as elerk. The next year Barber and Slo- cum took the place, and this management was sneceeded by E. L. Abbott, in 1871; by Jerry H. Knight and Henry Galloway, in 1872; by Henry Galloway, in 1873-4-5; and by John G. Greenawalt, in 1876, at the close of whose lease the St. Joseph Hotel, with its large imposing sign, ceased to exist. The name St. Joseph was twiee applied to a hotel in this eity; at first to a hotel on the site of the present Oliver and afterwards to this hotel on the north side of Market street. or La Salle avenue, as the street is now called.
After the second St. Joseph Hotel ceased to exist, as above stated, the building stood un- tenanted till about 1880, when Marvin Camp- bell became the lessee, with an extensive stock of hardware. With Marvin's characteristie
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
hustle the locality became a brisk and stirring center. Mr. Campbell sold his business in 1886 to Munroe & Creviston. To them succeeded Munroe & Keltner; and after them came Schuler & Klingel.
The first hotel on the site of the present Oliver was The Old St. Joseph. The name did not continue without interruption, and in one of the intervals the name of St. Joseph was taken by the second St. Joseph, on Market street, or La Salle avenue. In 1852, the late President Whitten. father of civil engineer William M. Whitten, purchased of the late Evan C. Chalfant, of Clay township, 54 feet of the west end of lots 240 and 239, this being part of the site of The Oliver block. He also purchased the next lot north and the one now occupied by Louis Nickel, Jr., & Co. There was a one-story frame on Washington next to the alley. Mr. Whitten put another story on this for his family residence and alongside of it he erected a two-story wagon shop. Just east of this building he had a blacksmith shop. William Conrad, later, became interested with Mr. Whitten in both ownership of the proper- ty and the business, the firm name being Whit- ten & Conrad. The former was a blacksmith and the latter a wagonsmith.
Mr. Conrad, later, became a resident of Warsaw, where he still resides. He is a staunch Democrat ; is always seen at Demo- cratie district gatherings and has served as a member of the state central committee.
In about 1857, Mr. Whitten removed his shop to the rear end of the lot just across the alley east of the present postoffice, and con- verted his two buildings on Washington street into one, and added at the rear a one-story part, 30x40 feet, thus forming what became the first St. Joseph Hotel. About the first of December, 1859, John A. Derbin leased this property and went to keeping tavern, calling the place The Derbin Hotel. County Assessor Thomas J. Slick clerked there about three months, commencing in December, that year. Mr. Derbin was an uncle of Yoppie Hogne, of the Hogue studio. Jefferson street.
About June 1. 1861, Mr. Derbin was suc- ceeded by M. M. Shultz, who changed the . name to National Hotel. Mr. Shultz (father- in-law of J. Edward Skillman, of the Singer works). continued here until 1862, when Mr. Whitten and his son-in-law, Harvey C. Bor- den, took possession and rented the west half of the St. Joseph Hotel of Elisha Egbert and Mary J. Higinbotham, connecting this with
the frame by an arched way. The west room of the St. Joseph Hotel was used for the office. The name National Hotel was continued under the new arrangement. In February, 1865, about two months before the great fire, Lot Day, Jr., purchased Mr. Borden's inter- est. There were some deferred payments. The loss was total, with no insurance. There was not the scratch of a pen to witness the indebtedness, yet it was paid to the last cent, without a whimper or quibble. The Days, it may be added, were long a prominent family in and about South Bend. Captain Lot Day. the elder, settled here in 1832, carried on the tanning business in several places, one of his tanyards being on Michigan street, just north of Navarre. Was also a brick manu- facturer, and was the contractor in the erec- tion of the first brick jail. He served as county commissioner, twice as sheriff, and once as state senator.
At a celebration of the Fourth of July, 1844, young Lot Day, then about 21, was act- ing as cannoneer. The cast-iron piece was placed on the bluff, about where the stand- pipe now lifts its lofty column. A charge prematurely exploded, driving the ramrod, with its rough swab end, through Lot's hands, tearing off the right hand entirely and the thumb off the other hand, besides terribly lacerating the remaining four fingers, but these were saved. Lot walked from the scene of the accident to the old Eagle Hotel (south- east corner Washington and Lafayette), then occupied by his sister Mary Ann, wife of Wil- liam Norton. Here, a Dr. Brown and Dr. Merritt amputated the arm and dressed the other wounds, the former operating and doing a bungling job. This, I believe was prior to the use or knowledge of anæsthetics in the practice of surgery. David Stover, ex-Mayor Miller and Thomas E. Beyerly witnessed the . operation. Much sympathy was aroused for the unfortunate young man, and liberal con- tributions were made by the citizens for his schooling, under the tutorship of Prof. C. M. Wright, who was long the leading educator in this section.
In 1846, the two Lots, father and son, were candidates on the Democratic ticket, the one for the state senate and the other for sheriff. The county was decidedly Whig, and each had a strong competitor, but both were elected. Lot, Jr., succeeded himself as sheriff by a largely increased majority, and at the close of his .second term as such was
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
elected county recorder. Later, he was a mem- ber of the first board of directors of the state prison North. Of splendid figure, pleasing address, and a genial, generous nature, Lot Day, Jr., was beloved by everybody that knew him, even by the schoolboy and the frowsy urchin playing "knuckles" on the sidewalk. The elder Lot was among the early overland emigrants to California, where he died. The younger Lot went there, too, later; kept the National Hotel, at Sacramento, for awhile, and died in that state, some ten or more years ago.
After the destruction of the first St. Joseph Hotel by the fire of 1865, a continuous block, consisting of three-story business buildings and Good's Opera House, was erected by the several owners of the ground on the site of the hotel. On December 24, 1878. the block so erected was again destroyed in what is known as the St. Joseph hotel fire. one of the most disastrous that the city has ever known. The firemen worked vainly to extinguish the flames, while the temperature was five degrees below zero. Six buildings were destroyed with their contents, involving a loss of sixty thousand dollars, while several firemen had their hands and feet frozen.
One of the indirect results of this terrible fire was the building and naming of the First Oliver House. In the spring of 1879, the owners of the St. Joseph block decided to re- build the entire frontage in a uniform style of architecture. the lower floors to be occupied as stores, while the upper stories should be converted into a hotel and the restored Good's Opera House.
Out of compliment to Mr. James Oliver, the new hostelry was christened the Oliver House, which was formally opened on the evening of July 14, 1879, with Jerry H. and Godfrey E. Knight, proprietors. The Knight Bros. ran the place for nearly ten years, and were fol- lowed, successively, by Jones & Cox. J. S. Mc- Farland, father-in-law of Melville E. Stone. founder of the Chicago Daily News, W. B. Titus, Phelps & Parsons. Parsons, Parsons & Faulknor. Faulknor & McElrath. Rice & Faulknor. and S. H. Rice. Under the latter's management the house was finally closed with a supper on the evening of April 30, 1898. after a period of nearly nineteen years. Few tears followed its going, for it betokened the beginning of the gorgeous up-to-date and splendidly equipped new hotel, The Oliver.
The new Oliver Hotel, which was erected
and furnished by the public spirit and muni- ficence of Mr. James Oliver, was dedicated by a public reception at which there was a great outpouring of the people from the city and from the surrounding cities, towns and coun- try, on the evening of December 20, 1898. On the following day the hotel was formally opened for business.
Mr. Leeper closes his painstaking, graphic and complete hotel reminiscences with this generous eulogy of the Oliver and its builder : "The Oliver of today needs no writing up. It speaks for itself. as the pride of South Bend. as unexcelled in the state or in the West, as the latest and highest ideal of hotel appointments. as an enduring monument to its public spirited and free-handed founder, James Oliver.'
The Oliver hotel is one of the most magnif- icent structures occupied for hotel purposes in the west." It has a frontage on Washington street of one hundred and sixty-five feet, and on Main street of one hundred and thirty-five feet. It is six stories in height, and of the most tasteful and imposing design of archi- tecture in the renaissance style. The lower story is of light colored stone. and the upper stories of cream colored brick, with enriched terra cotta architraves. and with an elaborate and artistic frieze and cornice of terra cotta. The Washington street entrance is marked by a handsome Dorie portico, with massive stone pedestals: and the Main street entrance is protected by an elaborately designed porte cochere of wrought iron.
The interior decorations and furnishings of the Oliver are superbly artistic and most beautiful in every detail, from the expansive and imposing rotunda, with its grand fresco ornamentations. to the sleeping apartments upon the upper floors. The parlors, dining rooms. guest chambers. halls and corridors are all finished in most beautiful designs and with the highest regard for artistic harmony and richness.
The paintings in the rotunda are works of art, and represent. in life size figures, the seasons, fine arts, poetry, architecture, sculp- ture. painting, the elements, water. fire, earth, and air. and music, song, the drama and the dance. The parlors, the Louis XVI and the Oriental rooms are marvels of beauty and finish, and are most luxuriously furnished: and the main dining room, with its flower- a. This description is chiefly from "South Bend and the Men who have Made it," pp. 52. 53.
THE OLIVER
OLIVER HOTEL, SOUTH BEND.
THE NEW YORK PUBLI. *TARY
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
decked ceiling and tapestry panels upon the walls, is a dream of beauty. The spacious banquet room is most elaborately decorated, the panels in the walls are finished in crimson silk, with a background of deep cream, col- ored with gold, while the ceiling represents a large tinted panel, embellished with forty-five life-size allegorical cherubs, emblematie of the arts and seasons.
In every respect the new Oliver Hotel is one of the most magnificent and imposing edi- fiees, and, in every detail and finish and fur- niture, is artistically beautiful and enduringly attractive.
In the rotunda is a massive gold loving cup, presented to Mr. Oliver by his friends, com- memorative of the erection of the hotel. It is of superb design, with bas relief medallions of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver, and miniature repro- duetions of the pioneer factory and the mod- ern works of the Oliver Chilled Plow Com- pany. Aside from its intrinsie and artistic value, this loving eup is prized by its honored recipient rather as an evidence of the high esteem in which he is held by his friends and associates in this city which has been the scene of his labors and triumphs, from the day he came to Mishawaka, a poor boy, in the four- teenth year of his age, until he has entered upon his eighty-fifth year, blest with untold wealth and full of honors by reason of the great publie benefits to which he has applied so generous a share of this wealth.
Sec. 15 .- SCHOOLS .- By Article Nine of the Constitution of 1816, it was made the duty of the legislature "to provide by law for a gen- eral system of education, aseending in a regu- lar gradation from township schools to a state university, wherein tuition shall be grat- is, and equally open to all." In the same artiele partienlar provision was made for the creation of funds for the support of county seminaries, as intermediate between the town- ship schools and the state university. The system was excellent in theory, but proved to be impraetieable, as the funds to support such an elaborate system of education could not be provided.
Accordingly, in the constitution of 1851 the legislature was required only "to provide by law for a general and uniform system of com- mon schools, wherein tuition shall be without
charge, and equally open to all."" Not only is there no provision for a state university or a county seminary, or other high school, but there is express provision for the sale of county seminaries and requiring that the pro- ceeds of such sale, and also "the moneys and property heretofore held for such seminar- ies," should become a part of the common sehool fund. The theory of the framers of the constitution of 1851 was very plainly, that ample provision should be made for a free common school education; but that any one who wished to give his child a high school, or a university education, should do it at his own expense.
Under the old constitution, as we have seen,b a county seminary for St. Joseph coun- ty was established, and was located in South Bend, on the north side of West Washington street, at the intersection of William, on the site of the present high school. After the constitution of 1851 went into effect, the county seminary and grounds were purchased by the South Bend school trustees and have ever since been used for a high school. Whether high schools are at all authorized under our present constitution, has been questioned. But, while no express provision for such schools is found in the constitution, and while the requirement that the old county seminaries should be sold and the proceeds turned into the common school fund, seems like an implied provision against the support of such schools by the state, yet there are some general provisions found in Article Eight, Seetion One, which make it the duty of the legislature, not only to provide for "a general and uniform system of common schools," but also "to encourage, by all suitable means, moral, intellectual, scientific, and agricultural improvement." However this may be, high schools have been established and placed under. control of city school trustees through- out the state.
In South Bend the high school proceeded
a. Constitution of 1851, Art. 8.
b. Chap. 6, Subd. 6, Sec. 11.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
directly from the county seminary. Indeed, it was but a continuation of the old seminary under a new name and under direction of new officials. It was on July 16, 1853, as we have seen,ª that the transfer of the seminary prop- erty was made from the county officials to the board of town trustees. The purchase was on time, and the payments were not all made until after South Bend had become a city and the school functions of the board of town trustees had passed into the hands of the board of school trustees of the city of South Bend. On August 31, 1866, the deed of transfer was formally made, and soon after- wards there was a reorganization of the old school. The name of seminary passed away and that of high school took its place.
An accomplished teacher in the high school has written an interesting historical sketch of the South Bend schools, particularly the high school, from about the date of the deed of transfer of the seminary, which sketch is here inserted with her permission :3
"The first step toward the organization of the South Bend High School was the appoint- ment of Mr. Daniel Eyer as superintendent of the public schools in 1867. The board of education at that time consisted of Messrs. John Klingel, J. A. Henricks and E. S. Rey- nolds, and it was due mainly to Mr. Klingel's efforts that our schools were graded and a high school was established. The schools of the city occupied five buildings : the old Madi- son school, a brick structure of four rooms; a frame building of two rooms on the site of the present Jefferson building; the Lowell school in the east part of the city, and the seminary on Washington street. Seventeen teachers were employed, and as the schools were entirely ungraded, classes ranging from primary readers to English literature, from notation to geometry, were found in the same room, conducted by one teacher.
"Mr. Eyer proved himself an able organiz- er, harmonizing conflicting conditions and
a. Chap. 6, Subd. 6, Sec. 11.
b. Mrs. Esse Bissell Dakin, in The Interlude.
bringing order out of chaos ; and soon the va- rious schools were pursuing a uniform course of study leading up to the High school. The classification of the pupils who composed the High school was not an easy task, and so num- erous were the inequalities in the preparation of pupils, that it was not until 1870 that a continuous four years' course of study was followed.
"On account of the central location of the old seminary, it was selected as the home of the incipient school, and Mr. Eyer was in- stalled as principal with one assistant. The seminary was a prominent building at that time, and as evidence of the importance of its erection we quote from the St. Joseph Val- ley Register of September 26, 1845: 'This building, on the north side of Washington street, west of town, is rapidly approaching completion. It is of brick, two stories high, and is to be surmounted by a cupola.
" "The seminary stands near the center of an acre and a half lot, which belongs to it and which is to be inclosed and improved. There will be two rooms in the building, one below and the other above. The one in the second story is to be the full size of the build- ing, undivided at present by any partition, and the two rooms will comfortably contain all the pupils of the institution for many years to come.'
"The prediction in regard to the capacity of the two rooms, as well as the location, 'west of town,' is especially interesting now, in view of our 10 overcrowded rooms and our loca- tion in the heart of the city.
"Unfortunately the records of the meetings of the board of education for the period from 1868 to 1873 have been lost, but we are able to give the important changes through the kindness of Mr. John Klingel, whose efficient services were given to our schools for many years. At the close of the first year of the existence of our High school, Mr. A. C. Ross was appointed principal, and Mr. Eyer, who was reappointed superintendent, conducted several classes, in addition to his work of su-
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HIGH SCHOOL, SOUTH BEND.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
pervision. Professor Ross was succeeded in 1870, by Prof. Benjamin Wilcox, who enjoyed a wide reputation as an instructor. He com- pleted the grading of the pupils and under his guidance the course of study was defi- nitely prescribed, the school increased in numbers and interest, literary societies were established and a new High school building was felt to be a necessity. The time had come when the old seminary no longer comfortably contained all the pupils of the institution.
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