Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-12-31
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Some Old Harrisburg Hotels

Union and General Taylor was one
of the notables who patronized 1t. |
This hotel was known far and wide. |
Probably the earliest hotel on Mar |
ket street was the Washington /
House, kept by Captain Andrew Lee.
a revolutionary veteran who was the
George c. Boldt, of Harrisburg, q
leader in every movement and in |
whose parlors the first assembly
was held back about the time we
were having a war with France.
There was a pigiron warehouse
first on that site but the Washing
ton House had some notable sue
cessors, the Jones of Civil war fame.
the Leland and the Commonwealth.
1t is now an office building and ira
dition says that until Washington
visited here at the time of the Whis-
ky insurrection, the tavern was
known as the Dauphin, in honor of
the heir of France. In any event
the figure of Washington on its
swinging signboard has been told
about at many a Harrisburg fire.
side and was a haven for travellers.
An early inn near the Washington
House was called the Bear and there
rs al ltbtIll lildl It's dlSIGpuldOl0
signboard was due to the fact that
the landlord made sign painter,
trying to jump his bill linn
sign. The painter took revenge by
using pigments that would run and
left before the first shower came
along TO mock the hardhearted
tavernkeeper. The William Tell
hotel was on the corner of Mar
ket and Court streets just across
from the Dauphin Deposit Trust
company's banking. house and later
on the White Hall came to bear it
company. 1t used to be a store and
tradition says housed county officers
when the Legis ature occupied the
courthouse from 1913 to 1922.
The old sign of the William Tell is
well remembered.
No record of the hotels of Harris
burg could be complete without the
Bolton. 1t was an early hotel site
and was next to the office of the
Calder. stage lines so that it became
widely known. 1t was called the
Golden Eagle and hotels of similar
name were operated by the Kneed-
lers and others affiliated with them
in Reading and Chambersburg. It
was one of the early chain of hotels
but by and by George Bolton came
| along and changed the name. The
sign on the old transom can still
be seen. The journal Of Charles
Dickens speaks Of the courtly land
lord of the Eagle. The Bolton has
always been a great Democratic
| hotel, and has had tone for many
years, being probably the best
L - Ill til.
Men whose grandfathers slept there
have gone to the old Bolton and
passed by the Commonwealth, Loch-
iel and the newer Senate. Another
famous hotel locality was Third and
! Market streets. Matthew Wilson,
who seems to have succeeded to the
honors of Captain Lee as the genial
/ boniface of Harrisburg, built the
hotel on that site and Matthew Will
sons was where Lafayette was given
a dinner on January 81, 1926. In
the accounts of that function 1t is
said that at the request>of the gen.
eral, Hail Columbia" was sung, the
general leading. Wilson had q long
list of banquets which made history
and in due time the hotel came to
be known as Herr's and then began
a career in the political history of
Pennsylvania as the Lochiel which
inseparately connects 1t with tho
names Of Cameron and Quay. Across
the street David Patton had O hotel
on the site of what is now the
Bergner building. That was in the
twenties and long before the Har-
risburg Telegraph was issued from
That throbbing center.
In common with most every place
of any size Harrisburg had a Red
Lion hotel. 1t stood where the
| Dauphin now stands, and there was
a smaller hotel further down the
block much frequented by farmers.
The Peters hotel, which stood where
| the Hershey is located, was also
popular With the agricultural folks.
In fact, that side of Market street
even in our day with the Motter and
others has been known as q locality
/ of farmers hotels. The Mocker-
mans built the famous Steamboat
which stood beside the Pennsylvania
railroad at the Market street sub
way and there was an early log
! hotel on the site of the United
States. A Washington House and a
! Temperance hotel, which had OPP
posite policies, were also in that To-
cality at an early day. Across the
railroad there was the Bomgardner
House, which had quite vogue
among travellers. The Cross Keys
was kept by an enterprising, citizen
who had the city weight Scales re-
moved to the front of his place OF
! entertainment when they were taken
from Capitol Park during the extern
sion that followed the civil war.
There was also a McCabe hotel over
of the canal, which the watermen
preferred.
| Back before the Civil War the site
of the Harrisburg Telegraph build
ing was occupied by a hotel known
as the Shakespeare House. 1t had
an interesting history and was the
pace where the soldiers who pass
ed through Harrisburg on the way
! to the Mexican war were lodged.
Later on it became known as
Shakespeare Hall, q place for
dances and shows and finally of the
Eden Museum. A book could be
written about Locust and Court. The
Exchange Hotel. which stood on
Walnut street about opposite the
prison, was a notable place for Har-
risburgers to gather during the civil
war, and must have We'd in those
days with Jim Russ later hotel en-
terprise in Brandt's hall, now the
| Commonwealth Trust Company's
building, and others with which
that noted landlord was identified.