Historic Hood River
Mt. Hood Hotel, 1888
Notes
This early view of the Mt. Hood Hotel is from the same era as the cyanotype we saw a few weeks ago. The hotel has a single story addition on the west side. It would undergo many more renovations in coming years. It’s hard to believe this is the same building we saw in this later view.
We’re fortunate to have identification for several of the people in the image. Bert Stranahan is at the reins of the horse cart. George Prather is in the back seat. Elmer Rand, his wife, and Laurie Rand are by the railing. The man in shirtsleeves was reported to be Elmer Rand’s father, who owned the hotel at that time.
This hotel was conveniently located just across the street from the train station. The start of rail service through Hood River in 1883 not only brought business for this hotel, it made it possible for farmers in Hood River to get their produce to markets across the country which in turn fueled the rapid growth of the city.
Dan
I’ll bet I know where Elmer and his wife Laurie lived 🙂
l.e.
Is this the same building?
Now we need a view from this porch down toward the river.
Arthur
As I post more pictures of the stages of renovation of this hotel you’ll see that it was in fact the same building at its core. The next step was a two story addition replacing the shed on the west, then a third story and verandas all around. We’ll see the intermediate phase in a few weeks.
Bill Pattison
Sally Donovan has a very good history of the evolution of hotels in Hood River from early times.
l.e.
George Prather newspaper publisher of the HR Glacier, writes that this hotel was the second building built in the newly platted town of HR.
Built by T.J. Wosford.
l.e.
I think the above name should be T.J. Hosford, not Wosford.
Jeffrey Bryant
According to the Hood River News, September 7, 1910, page 1, the occasion for this photo was the first stage ever to have left Hood River for Mount Hood.
http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83009939/1910-09-07/ed-1/seq-1/
The subsequent issue provided a copy of this photo:
http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83009939/1910-09-14/ed-1/seq-1/