- History's Newsstand Blog - https://blog.rarenewspapers.com -

The Traveler… up from the ashes…

Today I traveled to New York City by the way of the Harper’s Weekly dated April 20, 1867 [1]. In the issue I found the reporting of the “Burning of the Lindell Hotel, at Saint Louis, Missouri, blog-4-17-2017-lindell-hotel-fireMarch 30, 1867″. “…The Lindell is admitted to have been the largest building for purposes of accommodation ever erected in America. It was six stories high exclusive of attic and basement; and was divided into the five hundred and thirty rooms, and the largest of which was 116 by 44 feet. The actual cost of the building was $950,000, which, with the ground (valued at $326,400), makes the whole value $1, 276,400 — note to speak of furniture, $500,000 worth or which was imported… The efforts of the firemen were not relaxed, though it was evident that they would prove futile; the full force of the Department was steadily at work until 3 o’clock on the morning of March 31, at which time all the inner work was consume, and a considerable portion of the walls had fallen in, and the once imposing hotel was a mass of crumbling, blackened ruins.”

Almost immediately, the citizens of Lindell began assembling to discuss the rebuilding of the hotel. New construction began in September of 1872 with the opening in September of 1874.

~The Traveler