St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1912-05-22

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Assure Tourist Trafac.
Vermont must prepare to enter
tain her guests, II she hopes to
profit on d large scale from her
summer tourist business. Time
was when visitors to Vermont as a
rule were obliged to come as pic
mic parties to a marked extent.
and to put up tents on lake shores
and mountain sides. In more recent
years summer cottages have begun
to line our shores and dot our hill
sides, but these accommodations
to make their summer residence
and not for the summer tourist.
Burlington is something more
than a summer resort, but our peo-
pie are already learning that en-
larged hotel accommodations bring
increased business. Each of our
three Burlington hotels will prob
ably have as large patronage this
season as one hotel formerly had,
and there is already talk that in the
not distant future it will be neces-
sary to provide more rooms. Judi
cious publicity has carried the fame
OF our hotels throughout the length
and breadth of the land, and the
accessibility of this region as com
pared with the White Mountains,
situated as we are ca three man
lines of travel by both rail and
water between Montreal and the
Canadian resorts on the one hand
and Boston and New York, on the
other, must count strongly In the
direction of the rapid growth and
expansion of our summer business.
But Burlington is the only one of
of host of places in Vermont that
could be made the center of a large
tourist trade, with the provision of
the proper facilities for the care of
transient visitors as well as summer
residents. With the experience of
Brandon and Waterbury and Man
chester and Woodstock in connec-
ton with large hotels made con-
spicuoUs through success, it is not
necessary to argue that hostelries
Of considerable proportion can be
made profitable in Vermont
What is needed in many COM
munities, is not so much proof of
the financial success of projects Of
this character, but practical assist
ance in the way of starting such
undertakings. We are glad to note
in this connection that St. Johns
bury's progressive people have TAX
en- steps to provide a large hotel for
themselves, which will enable them
to care for some of the large number
Of tourists who visit it on the way
to and from the White Mountains,
and judging from the substantial
progress already made the success
Of the venture is practically assur-
ed.
A committee representing the St.
Johnsbury Commercial club took
the project in hand and secured
pledges to the amount OF $4,000
with which to start the structure,
and it is figured that SIS, 1000 will
be necessary to carry out the under
taking of the scale planned. 1t is
announced that sufficient money
form their part, and it is expected
assure the success of the project,
provided the local subscribers per-
form tehir part, and it is expected
that the work of construction will
begin the present season. A site
has been secured on the academy
property south of the court house
and facing Main street, which will
make it possible for the hotel to ca
ter to commercial business ais well
ure will have about sixty rooms at
the outset, but it will be so planned
that it can readily be enlarged
whenever an addition is found to be
necessary.
1t would be a mistake, however,
to assume that large hotels in cen
tiers of population must be YER
mont's chief reliance. On the
contrary small but neat and we'll
kept hotels scattered along the
trunk lines of highway frequented
by auto parties and in the beauty
spots of the state and on the islands
of Lake Champlain will help to a
marked degree in attracting visitors.
Large hotels are excellent adver-
tisements of state as well as of a
community but neat and attractive
and home-like rooms and palatable
and well-served meals are the chef
requirement of the tourist, and the
size of hotel becomes secondary
to those considerations.
We hope other towns will be glad
to follow the example of st. Johns
bury in starting a hotel project
through cooperative effort on the
part of local capitalists and
that the promotion of this policy
may receive every possible encour-
agement, for not until Vermont has
its full quota of attractive hotels
large and small, can we reasonably
expect te onjoy our fair share of the
summer tourist business.--I Burling-
ton Free Press.
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