The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-01-22
A FAMOUS OLD HOsIELRY.
Sale of q Hotel Where Washington and La
fayette Were Entertained.

The old Passaic hotel, of Paterson, has just
been purchased by S. z. Vreeland -four mer-
fused for the same property more than a quar-
ter OF a century ago. In the year 1871 there
were only ten buildings and one church on the
ground now occupied by the city of Paterson.
The Passaic hotel is one of these buildings and
the other Is the Benson House, stone structure
in Water street, . short distance from the hotel,
which was built in ITO. A great freshet in 1910
swept part of the hotel away, but the part that
remains is the same it was when originally
erected. The exact date of It's erection not
known. 1t was certainly twenty five years old
at the time OF the outbreak of the war of the
Revolution. During that war it was kept bv
Jacob Van Winkle. the great grandfather of
John E. Van Winkle. a wealthy machinist now
living in Broadway, Paterson. Il stood right in
the center of active military operations, and
Jacob Van Winkle had the honor Of performing
the part Of host to Washington, Lafayette and
other distinguished linen. When Lafayette re-
visited this country. in 1924, although forty
years had elapsed, he remembered every room
and hall, and recognized even some of the furni-
ture, portions of which remain even to this day.
Lafayette told, in the presence OF men now
living. how he had been entertained in that
house and related some OF the events that had
occurred while he was there. One of the ques-
tions that LAFAYETTE asked was what had become
of the "big headed mani" This was Peter Van
Winkle, the son of the proprietor. In the diary
of one Of Washingtons staff officers it was noted
that Peter was then twenty-seven years old, and
that mis- body was twenty-seven inches long. and
that his face, from the upper part of his forehead
to the end OF his chin, measured twenty seven
inches. He was never able TO stand mp. but his
faculties were not much impaired. When Gen
eval Washington asked him whether he was a
Wing or Tory, he said truthfully that he had
never taken an active part on either side.
The speech which Lafayette made to the
crowd from the piazza has been handed down as
follows:
'The recoections of Totowa and the enjoy-
ments or Paterson: May this happy, populous,
manufacturing town more and more bear wit
ness to the superiority of republican institutions
and the blessings OF freedom, equal rights, and
self-goverument."
AT the time OF Lafayettes visit the hotel was
kept by General Abram Good win, who made it
n tavorite resort for fishermen, for fishing was
excellent in the Passaic river that ran just back
of the hotel, in those old days.
Now there are dozen bridges spanning the
Passaic at Paterson. IN those days there was
This bridge was swept away in the freshet of
1910. The nearest bridge was at Belleville.
Uriah Van Riper. who happened TO be on the
side of the river opposite his residence at the
moment of the destruction of the bridge, al
though ne could almost hit his house with a
stone. had to go round By the way OF Belleville
TO get home, which was a two hours drive.
The hotel now consists OF hardly anything but
bar room and few rooms for transient guests.
But the rooms remain just the same they
Were before the Revolutionary There is
the same wide piazza. with its wooden Grecian
columns. the oid-fashioned, wide entrance, the
quaint parlor. and the large and inviting bar
room 1t has passed through many changes
but there some things about the building
that were unqusstonably there century or
more ago. 1t is said that the owner will
make an effort TO restore the place to its cient
Character and shape, aud run il as frst-class
old-fashioned hostelry.