CITY HOTEL.
(AKA: MORGAN BUILDINGS, ENGLISH ALE & PORTER HOUSE, MORGAN HOUSE, MORGAN HOTEL, MORGAN CITY HOTEL)
Morgan Hotel - c1866
© Webmaster Collection.
Originally the lot (where the City Hotel Lobby is located) is owned by Isaiah F. and Levi E. Colburn.
1851 George Morgan arrived in Columbia.
1852 The lot sells to Mitchell Coleman and John Mooney. It may have been a blacksmith shop.
1853 Coleman sells the business to Austin Smith.
Note: Prior to 1854 - J. P. and J. Yaney own a frame building on the lot.
1854 July 5 - George Morgan buys the frame building 5 days before the fire, that structure burns and he replaces it with 2 wood frame buildings. "English Ale and Porter House".
1854 Coleman deeds the property to Gordon and Austin Smith they have a blacksmith shop.
1854 July 10 - Major fire destroys most of town.
1856 Smith starts a 1 story brick building and Louis Heynemann reopens the Lager Beer Saloon in this new building. (see San Francisco Lager Beer Saloon)
1856 George Morgan replaces the south building with a 2 story brick structure.
1856 August - the Columbia Gazette and Southern Mines Advertiser is published on the second floor of the building.
1857 August 25 - the brick building is damaged in the fire and the wood building destroyed. It is replaced with a brick building. P.G. Ferguson rents the lower floor of the north building for his retail and wholesale liquor store. The Morgan family is living in part of the building. The hotel is known as the "What Cheer House". It is not known exactly when Morgam first used the hotel as such. Several businesses moved in and out of the building in it's early years, but they probably did not occupy all of it. It is probable that Morgan took in "roomers" at an early date. (from Barbara Eastman via CDPR brochure 1974)
1858 January - Lenz takes over the business.
1858 February - Lenz's barkeeper, Adolph Bennitz, takes over the business. The Smiths sell the building to Antony Miller whose wife then runs the saloon.
1860 January - Ida Watts buys the building, she had been operating the saloon since Miller's death.
1860 Cheap John Louis's Auction Room is in the building. On the upper floor is a 42' by 44' hall used for theatricals and concerts.
1860 November - Watts sells to Seymore Hughes who moves his business: tinware, lamps, stoves and hardware into the building.
1861 Mart Taylor rents the upper floor as the "Columbia Opera House".
1865 February - Hughes sells to Rains Hughes.
1865 April - G. Morgan buys the Smiths 1 story brick building on the south side of hotel.This building, with 18 feet of frontage on Main Street and a depth of 44 feet, was built at the same time as Morgan's original building and the two buildings had a single front with no dividing line. A second story was added to this section later (in the year), thus giving him two stories with identical measurements, 60 feet fronting on Main Street and a depth of 44 feet. (from Barbara Eastman via CDPR brochure 1974)
1865 Kline's What Cheer & Coffee Saloon. (from Barbara Eastman via CDPR brochure 1974)
1866 Buildings continue to be damaged by fire and improved.
1871 Morgan advertised as "Morgan's Hotel." The hall is known as the Columbia Theater and Music Hall. (from Barbara Eastman via CDPR brochure 1974)
1871 August - Morgan. Block 15, Lot 208. This parcel actually has a corridor leading to Broadway Street with a small path called "Morgan's Lane." - Deputy County Surveyor map by John P. Dart
1874 The first time that it is called "Morgan's City Hotel." (from Barbara Eastman via CDPR brochure 1974)
c1887-88 G. Morgan adds a second floor to the south building and enlarges the hall.
1888 G. Morgan opens the "Open Air Pavilion" on the north side of the building.
