The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-02-22
DENNIS RYAN'S HOTEL
SEES MANY CHANGES
Recent Legal FcrmaIlties, 1t
Is Believed, Again Give
Him Control.

Traveller IN the Northwest, has been
sold twice within ten days.
But the hotel is still owned by Den
mis- Ryan; 1t is still conducted by Fer
dinand Well. There will be no change
of proprietor or landlord.
These sales have been judgment
sales to protect certain creditors Of
Mr.. Ryan. The amounts involved,
however, have been too small to en-
danger his ownership of the property.
Judgment had been secured on four
notes signed by Mr.. Ryan and owned
by the Urban Investment company, Of
st. Paul. The notes were purchased
from the receivers of the Bank of
Minnesota when the investment COM
pany bought the remaining assets of
the bank. Among the stockholders of
the company are c. R. Smith and o. l..
Taylor, of Smith & Taylor, real estate
agents.
At the first sale of the hotel prop
erty, Feb. 13, the amount Of the judg-
ments in issue was $7.180.97; at the
second sale, last Saturday, the judg-
ments were $41,538.37. The property
was bid in by the investment company
on both occasions.
But Mr.. Ryan. now out of the city,
is believed to be the sole owner of
the hotel, which is worth at least $780,
OO0. There is said to be but one mort
gage upon the property, and that is a
lien of $350,000 held by Philadelphia
trust company. The rental of the hotel
property is placed at $4,000, and the
rental Of the stores and other apart
ments not occupied by the hotel is put
at $2O,000 the corner store room, rent
ed as railway ticket office brings in
$4,000 annually, the Ryan barber shop
q md hot he u It'll
Mr.. Ryan, with an annual revenue Of
$4,000 from the hotel property, is not
likely TO be embarrassed by judgments
which but slightly exceed that sum-
Moreover, the transfer of ownership
would not become actual, in any case,
before February. 1905.
A Twin City Comparison.
This reported sale Of the Ryan hotel
in St. Paul reminds real estate men
that the West hotel in Minneapolis was
really sold few months ago. and the
experts make few comparisons highly
favorable to the Sanity City. The
West hotel was sold for very much
less than its original cost; explanations
up the river" were unanimous: well,
1t isn't worth any more: 1t hasn't been
profitable investment" But the Ryan
hotel is one of the most remuneratiye
value, based on revenue, is, as mem
toned. 100000; yet the original value
OF the building, as given yesterday
by +. M. HennesSy, one of the con-
tractors, was $750,00o. The land was
comparatively cheap when the hotel
was erected in 1884-85; so that there
has been practically no depreciation
In the property despite the wear and
| tear of nineteen years. -t
The protector Of the Ryan deserved
I the reward of enterprise, for this big
/ hotel was, the first large building on
Robert street within several blocks Of
I Seventh street. Small structures stood
on the present sites Of the Bowlby
building across Sixth street, and of
! the Chamber of Commerce building
diagonally across Robert street. Where
is now the handsome Mannheimer
building, directly across Robert street,
! appeared then a livery stable The
| Mannhelmer dry goods store was occu-
| plying, at the southeast corner of Third
and Minnesota streets, structure then
recently erected, the finest building on
| Third street. The site of the Ryan
was a large, lot on which had stood.
| for many years, the cottage home of
| Mrs. Forbes. widow of Mai. Forbes, a
| pioneer Indian trader and a partner of
| Norman Kittson.
0trucks wealth IN Mining.
The builder of the new hotel. Dem
| mis- Ryan, had come a short time be-
| fore from Colorado where he had sold
mine for $1,750,0O0 He staked more
| than 100000 on this ST. Paul venture,
but accepted from local business men
| bonus amounting to several hundred
thousand dollars. He paid $4,000 for
| the hotel furnishings.
| Some wears 0l9nSn6 hQfora tho mo n
! agement of the hotel became satisfac-
| tory. The first landlords, Brewer and
| Truman, of New York, retired at the
end of twelve months. Then Mr.. Ryan
| himself. with the assistance of Col.
| Emerson, later of the Hotel Spaiding,
Duluth, undertook the task of boni-
| face during a second year. Col. Nc
Closkey followed and succeeded. He
! was retired by death in the fall of 1888,
when the management passed to Eu-
gene Mehl, an Alsatian chef, who had
been manager of the Hotel Lafayette
at Lake Minnetonka. Mr.. Mehl and
| his sons struggled for five years, but
became bankrupt in. 1893. 1t was in
! August of that year that the furniture
| and lease were acquired by Col. Well,
| who had made an enviable record as
| landlord OF the Merchants hotel.
Despite the financial storm of the
period. Col. Welz brought with him the
| good times that he has since. retained
| at the Ryan. His lease is in nowise
affected by the present legal processes.
The owner of this hotel has enjoyed
| the vicfssitudes typical of a Western
miner. Twenty years ago he made q
fortune almost instantaneously. He in
vested in multitude of enterprises.
| Coming to st. Paul, he not only built
| the Ryan, bat erected, soon afterwards,
the adjoining store building on Robert
| street called the Ryan Annex The
| Annex cost $175, 900. 1t was lost on a
mortgage about eight years ago. Still
| another local undertaking Of Mr..
| Ryan's was the Ryan Drug company.
| formed in 1885 and Incorporated in
| 1889, with Mr.. Ryan as president. Dur
| ing the early '90s the drug company
occupied f1ve-story building at 227-
229 East Third street, and did a busi-
ness Of $1.OO0,00O annually. The COM
pany Is now at 130-140 East Seventh
street. Mr.. Ryan also bought farm
lands in Minnesota and the Dakotas.
timber lands and stock ranches in the
West. mines, smelters, railways. He
even entered the field of municipal con-
tracing in New York city. His most
recent investment is said to have been
| a mine of remarkable richness in Mex
leo.
MIR. Ryan's headquarters Is now
Chicago. For several years he lived in
st. Paul. his home being the former
residence of Maurice Auerbach, at 400
Woodward avenue, lower town. A score