The Morning herald., 1876-03-04
A CENTENNIAL HOTEL,

What Northern Man Wishes to do for
Wil,sin0ton---AH Hotel and Summer Gar
don Combined.
The subject of making Wilmington ap-
pear somewhat as suburb to Philadelphia
during the Centennial has occupied place
in the thoughts of great many. In con-
versation with a Mr.. William H. Minister,
recently Of Albany, New York, nut now OF
Philadelphia, and who was in Wilmington
yesterday looking at the business aspects OF
the place, a HERALD representative, was
informed by him what his special object
was. He states that he had conceived the
idea some months ago of starting first-class
hotels with large gardens attached where
there would be music, games and re-
freshments in all places contiguous to
Philadelphia during the Centennial, the
same as was done, and with the success
during the Vienna exhibition.
Mr.. Minister stated that he had been to
Chester and looked over the place carefully,
but there were several objections to it, one
of which was that its population was too
small, and it is too near Philadelphia for
! the people surrounding it to become float
ing population. With Wilmington he
thought it was very different, as all the
| travel from down the State would naturally
stop here as sort of relay station, and to
them the novelty of large garden, with
music and games, together with refresh
| ments, would be novel and at the same
time, pleasing sight. In addition to this
Wilmington will be made suburb as it
were, to Philadelphia, by the large number
of trains that will be run daily between the
two places, and its nearness to that city,
the distance being only twenty-eight miles
The principle upon which base my sup
position, said Mr.. Minister, is the same az
we see every day in New York; one-half OF
the business men of that place do not live
in the city; Newark, even as far down the
Jersey Central Road as New Brunswick
business men of New York live, and go II
and fro daily, and regard it as no more than
person here would trip from the su-
burbs to the centre Of your city.
By the frequency of trains and the proper
accommodations, Wilmington has better
prospects for realizing profit during the Cen
tennial than any place within radius Of
thirty miles of Philadelphia. I have been
to look at number of places to-day, but
have seen none yet that suited me very
we'll. There are plenty of those that would
answer admirably for the purpose, but you
see they are all private residences aud could
not be procured at any price. In the neigh.
borhood of the Brandywine, upper section
OF the city, most favorable locations are OF
fered There we could have all the combi
nation of forest and stream that would give
it the air of romance, and salubrity o.
climate unexcelled. The street cars would
run within few squares of it, and by which
means it would be made available to the
lower sections of the city, and would suit
as summer resort owing to its easy access
to the railroad depot.
He stated that he was Of the impression
that he had delayed the matter too long, at
it would take five months oput upthe prop
er building and get the grounds in order
but he thought that If he could Sc
cure house in some good section OF tn
city 1t would be better. So far he had beer
unable to find any that he could rent fo
that purpose, but he would be in the cit.
again soon, and endeavor to secure what N
was after.