St. Paul daily globe., 1892-03-20
TWO new Mine HOSTS
Carson & Hall, of Davenport,
Lease the Merchants
Hotel.
The Jobbers' Union Elects
Officers and MemorialiZeS
Lindeke.
Two New Faces Will Show on
the State Equalization
Board.
Committees to Handle the
States World Fair School
Exhibit.

The Merchants hotel was leased yes
terday afternoon for a period of ten
years, commencing April 1. The an
nual rental under this lease is fixed at
10000 per year, and the lessees are
Messrs. Carson & Hall, of Davenport, 10.
Before signing the papers leasing the
house, Messrs Carson & Hall made
deal with Col. T. r. Welz, by the terms
of which they purchased all the turnit-
ure and fixtures for consideration of
100000.
Col. Allen, the owner of the Mer-
chants, will at once commence a large
number of changes and improvements,
the understanding being that he will
expend somewhere in the neighborhOod
of $25. 900 in this way. The office will
be remodeled, and the old steps leading
TO the dining room will be torn out and
their place taken by marble steps.
Steam heat will be placed in fifty more
rooms, and the lobby, dining room,
saloon, bar and billiard parlors will be
redecorated. Plate glass fronts will be
put in on the jackson and Third street
sides. Indeed, the entire hotel will be
remodeled and made as attractive
as money and taste can make
it. Col. Allen, while he has
not had the managerial cares for several
years and never expects to again, takes
as much pride in the hotel as ever, and
for this reason takes no little interest In
the suggested improvements.
The new proprietors of the house are
not entire strangers to the people OF
Minnesota, one of them, Mr. Hall, hav-
ing spent twenty-five years Of his early
life in Owatonna, the prosperous ana
wide-awake little town of Steele county.
Mr. Hall came to Owatonna
1a Years. 1851 he com%snced Doy 0f Dusness ssSs
with Horace Pratt, who was a grain
buyer. He afterward went to Dakota,
continuing in the same business. After
ward he went to Ashland, where he run
the Colby house for several years. From
Ashland he went to Peoria, where he
managed the Hotel Royal for time,
afterwards taking charge OF the Sara
toga house in Chicago. For the last
three years he has been the manager Of
the KimbaIl house at Davenport.
Justin Carson, the older member of
the firm, has been i'll the lumber busi-
ness during the greater part of his life,
for the last few years having been
president of lumber firm. He recently
disposed of his lumber interests and
will embark with Mr.. Hall i'll the hotel
business. He is pleasant gentleman
of the solid sort and will be all acquiSi-
ton to the city. Mr.. Hall is younger
and has more snap and energy perhaps,
but with Mr.. Carson will make strong
team. In speaking of the lease, Mr..
Hall said:
"We shall return to st. Paul just as
joh
case will be about the last day OF March.
We shall at once put III considerable
new furniture which, with the improve
ments that will be made, will make the
house look quite differently. l have a
wide acquaintance throughout the
Northwest, and l shall make hard
pull to keep the Merchants in the front
rank. The house has certain classes of
business secure and l shall endeayor to
hold all them and reach out into other
fields"