CITY HOTEL.

(AKA: MORGAN BUILDINGS, ENGLISH ALE & PORTER 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.

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.

1854 Coleman deeds the property to Gordon and Austin Smith they have a blacksmith shop.

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)

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 November - Watts sells to Seymore Hughes who moves his business: tinware, lamps, stoves and hardware into the building.

1865 February - Hughes sells to Rains Hughes.

1865 April - George Morgan buys the brick building and a 1 story wood building.

Now the rest of the story.

Prior to 1854 - J. P. and J. Yaney own a frame building on the lot.

1854 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".

1856 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 - 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 saloon is the "What Cheer House".

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.

1861 Mart Taylor rents the upper floor as the "Columbia Opera House".

1865 Morgan buys the Smiths 1 story brick building on the south side.

1866 Buildings continue to be damaged by fire and improved.

1871 Now called Morgan's Hotel. The hall is known as the Columbia Theater and Music Hall.

1874 Morgan's City Hotel.

Unknown Morgan adds a second floor to the south building and enlarges the hall.

1888 Morgan opens the "Open Air Pavilion" on the north side of the building.

Morgan Hotel - c1890s
1890 By this time, the hotel had 20 sleeping rooms upstairs, a large office, bar, ladies' sitting room and a big dining room downstairs.

© Columbia State Historic Park.
City Hotel Bar Token - c1890s.
1892 After Morgan's death, his widow leases the business to John Nash.

1897 By this time, George and Margaret's youngest son and daughter, Ralph and Maggie, own the property. Ralph is operating the hotel.

1902 William Koch builds a wooden addition at the rear, the lower floor was the kitchen, upper floor has toilets and baths.

1911 April - fire destroys the wooden addition and the pavilion as well as the upper floor when the roof fell in. With little insurance, Ralph Morgan sells the property to Dante and Mary Cinelli. The Cinellis repair the brick building and rebuild the kitchen. They have 6 bedrooms on the second floor ready for renting by 1912. The bar is still open.

1927 John Mills leases the building.

City Hotel - 1934
1930 Mr. and Mrs. Angelo Nadotti run the hotel. Board was $30 per week, 3 meals a day included. There is no heat upstairs.

1931 George S. Gardenhire, proprietor.

City Hotel - 1940s
1947 State purchases from John Hirt et al. At some point there were 15 bedrooms upstairs.

1974 Building restored and opened as City Hotel.

1975 Building operated by the City Hotel corporation.

2006 Forever Resorts takes over the concession, via a month to month basis awaiting RFP.

2009 June 21 - Forever Resorts contract ends.

This page is created for the benefit of the public by
Columbia Booksellers & Stationers
22725 Main Street
Columbia California 95310-9401

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A WORK IN PROGRESS,
created for the visitors to the Columbia State Historic park.
© Columbia State Historic Park & Floyd D. P. Øydegaard.