When I grew up in West Concord in the fifties and sixties, the brick Concord Hotel was a landmark on the southeast corner of Main and Front streets. It is no longer there, but its story is part of the fabric of our town.
When the Hall Hotel on Main Street was destroyed by fire in August of 1912, the Enterprise proclaimed, “A town is worthless without a hotel.” The Collins House, known also as the Hotel Concord, had burned 7 years earlier. The editor of the newspaper called the situation an emergency and asked if the town could rise to the occasion and erect a brick hotel. The newspaper quoted a traveling man who arrived by train in town and said, “Better get on the train again, this bum town has no hotel. I’m bound for Mantorville.”
The call to action was eventually answered and a hotel stock company was formed and incorporated. August 26, 1915 was the organizational meeting and 35 stockholders attended. Both West Concord citizens and its surrounding farmers were urged to purchase stock at $50 a share. With $9000 raised, approximately 2/3 of the anticipated cost, bids were let for a new hotel. Kramer and Stevens of St. Charles were chosen as the contractors to build a two story brick hotel with a basement and a 12 foot veranda, with 54 feet of frontage and 92 feet back, and hot and cold water. A spacious lobby, a ladies parlor, a restaurant, and 26 sleeping rooms would complete the gracious lodging.
The grand opening of the Hotel West Concord in February of 1916 was quite the event. 170 guests were served in the dining room that evening, paying $2.00 a plate each. The Andrist Ladies Orchestra of Mantorville provided music and tours were given throughout the evening. After everyone had eaten at the hotel, guests strolled across Main Street to City Hall where speeches were given touting the benefits the hotel would bring to West Concord. There was more musical entertainment and a dance to end the evening—a memorable occasion to be sure.
The final cost of the hotel with lots, drainage, and fixtures was $14,298.99, approximately $429,000 in today’s dollars. The Enterprise remarked opening week, “We believe that West Concord has the best hotel along the line of the Great Western Railway from St. Paul to Oelwein, and that when better railroad service is assured, it will be one of the best paying hotels in southern Minnesota.” In that quote lies the problem that would plague the hotel for years, two-thirds of the Great Western passenger trains passed through West Concord without stopping.
In the early years of the hotel it was leased, not owned by its managers, and lessees seemed to change often. In 1919 the hotel closed with only 24 hours notice when Leonard Ellingson traded his hotel lease for Montana lands and thought the gentleman with whom he traded would keep the hotel open. A week later, after legal proceedings, the hotel was open again.
In 1934, Floyd Campbell, who had managed the hotel since 1923, vacated the hotel and located his cafe in a different location on Main Street. No renter for the hotel was found until Mr. and Mrs. H.O. Nordvald leased it, updated it and held a grand opening on March 23, 1935. Free coffee was offered on Saturday afternoon and on Sunday 150 special dinners were served. Our Flame Room at the museum pays homage to the Nordvald’s lovely dining room.
The next manager, Elmer Lampson, bought the hotel in June of 1942 The days of leasing it were over. The town was relieved because the Hotel once again had been shut down for some time. In the 40’s the hotel featured a variety store, a Watkins dealer conducting business out of Apartment 4, and the opening of Frank Pirkl’s electrical appliance store in the west side of the hotel for a short time before moving to another location on Main Street.
In 1948 Dewey Scott, my school bus driver, purchased the hotel and gave it the name, The New Concord Hotel. By this time many sleeping rooms had been converted into apartments. In the spring of 1964 the Scotts sold the hotel to Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Peterson of Dodge Center. The Petersons had the hotel rewired for safety and advertised warm, comfortable rooms and apartments with three rooms and a bath. The Petersons owned the hotel for 12 years and sold it to Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal Bacon of Bloomington, MN in 1975. While Mr. Bacon stayed in Bloomington to attend to his work there, Mrs. Bacon managed the Concord Hotel. Unfortunately she passed away in 1980 at the young age of 50, a hotel auction taking place shortly after her death on September 4, 1980. The last mention I could find of apartments being rented at the hotel was in 1984 and 1985 when 1 and 2 bedroom apartments were advertised by the Elite Management Company.
At City Council meetings in the 1990’s real concerns were expressed about the safety of the now empty building. Talks about demolishing it or rehabbing it were ongoing. In 1996 the State Fire Marshall deemed the building unsafe and in 1997 the city attorney was authorized to proceed with condemnation as the hotel was not closed or safeguarded properly. In the meantime security lights were installed in the alley behind the old hotel to discourage trespassing and vandalism. I have struggled to find the date the Concord Hotel was demolished. If you happen to know, will you let me know? Our story needs an ending.
In the meantime I’d like to memorialize our old hotel by remembering some of the many events that happened there, as well as the needs it filled. It’s quite a comprehensive list. Baseball, city band, county newspaper, rural mail carrier and dairy association meetings were often held there. Visiting allergists, optometrists, and hearing aid specialists regularly met patients at the hotel. Photographers visited often, giving local families easy access to professional photographs of their children. Junior-Senior Banquets, Study Club Banquets, anniversary parties, midnight suppers after town dances, Lodge dinners, birthday parties and even funerals all happened at the Concord. You could leave orders for piano tuning or freight hauling at the hotel. You could also mail letters in the evening there and the hotel would take them down to the evening train so they’d be in St. Paul by the next morning. You could visit an attorney or a tax accountant at the hotel or even have lady’s hair marcelling done there. Best of all, the hotel provided a home for a multitude of people. Many of West Concord’s elderly spent their last years living at the hotel. Often former residents stayed at the hotel when they came back to town to visit old friends and family. Doc Olson rented apartment 4 so that he’d have a place to live when he was discharged from service in WW II. The David Scarrs rented an apartment while their house was being built in town, as did others.
We miss you and your heyday, Concord Hotel!
