The Columbia Hotel around 1900. Image source: private collection
The corner of West Main Street (Route 20) and Park Street in Fredonia has been a valuable parcel of real estate since the earliest settlement of the area. The first known use was the location of Hezekiah Barker's log home/tavern in 1808 which he later sold to Mosely Abell. This structure was lighted by gas in 1821, possibly the first hotel in America to do so, according to the Dunkirk Evening Observer. General Lafayette stopped there in 1824. Stage lines east/west and south crossed at Fredonia, generating much business for the hotel. In 1836, Captain Samuel Johnson built a brick hotel on this site, the Johnson House, opening it on July 4, 1837. It was subsequently owned by W. H. Taylor, and called the Taylor House. For years, this hotel was the principal hostelry in the region. |
 Advertisement from the 1906 "Automobile Route Book" (AAA). Image source: private collection. |
In 1892, a group of Fredonia businessmen built a new hotel, incorporating a portion of the original Johnson House. Captain E. A. Curtis, Frank W. Tarbox and Dr. M.M. Fenner formed the Fredonia Hotel Company and called their new venture the Columbia Hotel. The building occupied the block bounded by West Main, Center, Church, and Park Street. It catered to travelling salesmen and tourists. The Fredonia Censor described the new hotel as bright cream with white trimmings. It had 70 guest rooms, some with baths attached, a passenger and baggage elevator, steam heat, incandescent electric lights, "all the latest improvements. A large summer business is expected." The hotel advertised the convenient transportation facilities that tourists would find leading them to the Columbia: "electric street cars running to both railroad depots in Dunkirk, connecting with over 40 passenger cars per day on trunk lines, leave and arrive at the hotel every half hour." When the automobile came into use and enthusiasts began touring, the Columbia welcomed them as seen in the advertisement at left.
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The same view in 2008.
In the 1907 edition of the AAA book, the hotel specifically advertises its automobile amenities. |
 Advertisement from the "Official 1907 Automobile Blue Book." Image source: Google Books online |
| The 1905 Dunkirk Herald referred to the Columbia as "the oldest and best known hotel in Fredonia...The popular house is known wherever the knight of the grip is to be found as a homelike hotel." |
By 1918, the 26-year old building seemed a venerable fixture to Fredonians. The first floor was occupied by stores, with DeForest Straight's clothing store located at the southeast corner (entrance steps at right above) and J. D. McLaren's dry goods store at the southwest corner. Between their stores was the store of Charles Austin, a wholesale cigar dealer with a newsstand and pool room. Another pool room in the basement was operated by Raymond Tastor. The hotel had residents as well as guests. |
The same view in 2007.
Newspaper photograph of the ruins of the Columbia Hotel the morning after the fire which destroyed it.
Image courtesy of the Barker Historical Museum, Fredonia.
Shortly after midnight, January 27, 1918, fire was discovered in a store room in back of Austin's store, originating there or in the rooms above. It spread through the walls and up an air shaft, which spelled the building's doom. Despite arriving "instantly," Fredonia firemen had difficulty locating working hydrants in the freezing weather. When they were able to connect their hoses, the village water pressure was insufficient for the enormous requirement. By 1 a.m., less than an hour after the alarm was sounded, "the entire building was one great furnace." The village for blocks around "was as light as day," and the reflection was seen as far away as Angola. Fortunately for the hotel's residents and guests, night clerk Fred Pettit and bell boy Raymond Bolling observed the smoke and evacuated all without injury. Fireman from Dunkirk were called in to assist in saving buildings across the narrow Center Street. The trolley car barn there caught fire but was saved; the trolley cars had been distributed along the lines on Temple Street and Central Avenue for safety. No other buildings on Center Street were burned despite a northeast wind. Several firemen were injured. The Dunkirk Evening Observer called the Columbia "the principal hotel and one of the principal business blocks" in Fredonia and wondered what would become of the ruined block. Total damages were estimated at $125,000. The site was rebuilt with the multi-use Neo-Colonial structure seen in photos above. It was in recent years called the Russo Building, and in 2008, One Park Place. |
Special thanks to Nancy Brown, Curator, and Dorothy Derby of the Barker Historical Museum, Fredonia NY for their
assistance with this pictorial.