ILION TAVERNS AND HOTELS
VILLAGE OF ILION
HERKIMER COUNTY, N.Y.
The following is taken from "Ilion 1852-1952." We thank the Mayor and
other officials of Ilion for granting us permission to provide this
information to our visitors.
TAVERNS
The taverns in Ilion's early history were usually farmhouses. The
weary traveller, be he on horseback, in coach, or on foot, could count on
refuge in one out of four homes he approached. The Checkered Tavern
was host to the travelling public from about 1780 until at least 1850.
Standing in the woods, it faced south on property which is now 269 E.
State Street. At that time the main road lay farther north than at
present avoiding marshland. The name of the tavern came from a checkered
pattern on its barn. The tavern was well equipped to provide water for
man and beast for there were a well, cistern, and spring water brought
by pump logs from the hill south of the canal. A boat station and dock
for the canal, its two barns, and a blacksmith shop provided care for
tow horses and mules during the Erie Canal years. Changes of ownership
were numerous until it burned. When renovations were made in the
present house on the site, vivid reminders of a day long past were
unearthed; an old cellar wall 3' thick, melted glass and coins, arrowheads,
blackened kettles and bushels of clam shells.
HOTELS
Two houses that were once taverns remain intact today; 243 W. Main
Street, known formerly as the Waldo House and 257 W. Main now known as
West End Grocery. The former was known as the London Hotel, which was in
existance before the construction of the Erie Canal. A distillery near
the premises assured the prosperity of the establishment. Other claims
place the Lonodon Hotel at 257 W. Main St. This house was built when
the canal was being cnstructed primarily for a store, but was used as a
tavern as well.
Fulfilling a public necessity as they did, the early taverns could not
have evoked the just pride the Villagers had in the Osgood Hotel. It
was built on the western corner of Otsego and Main by Eliphalet
Remington in 1852, a three story brick structure, 60' x 90' with two wings.
The Mansard added a fourth story in 1890. The Hotel housed fifty
sleeping apartments besides the many other rooms allocated to a first class
establishment of its kind. It was supplied with water, running to all
rooms, from a spring on a hill, one-half mile distant. Its excellent
cuisine merited its wide reputation. In 1870 it was sold for $40,000
and, with change of ownership in 1875, the big square pillars in front
were cut away, creating a new arched entrance. It was known as The Briggs
Hotel and Hotel Gammond until 1894, when it was again known as the
Osgood House. At this time the old veranda was removed, and the flower bed
and railing eliminated the gathering place of loiterers. It was sold
at auction in 1888 for $10,000. It was a most successfully managed
establishment as a Temperance hotel until in 1901, a bar was added, in
keeping with the times. At this time the "New Hotel Osgood" underwent
extensive alteration, including "modern" refrigeration, steam heat, a
rathskeller, bowling alleys, billiards, barber shop, etc. A telephone had
been installed a few years before and now it also boasted electricity,
including two hundred lamps and an electrically operated eight passenger
elevator to the fourth floor. Its spacious dining room was the scene
of all public dinners. Guests were driven to and from the depot in a
yellow round-bodied bus, resembling a gigantic pumpkin, bearing the
lettering "New Osgood ." After World War I a period of decline was a
forewarning of its impending doom. In 1922 a part was torn down for the
building of the Manufacturers National Bank. The remaining space is now
occupied by a restaurant, a store, offices and apartments.
The U. S. Hotel in the gorge, opposite the old Remington home was
frequented by Ilionites and out of town guests in the 1850's. People from
as far as New York City were escorted from the depot by a coach drawn
by four horses. A ballroom on the third floor of the hotel provided a
social gathering place after the guests had refreshed themselves by hot
or cold sulphur baths in tin tubs in the six bath houses in a separate
building. In the summer--house guests drank the sulphur water from a
spring by means of a tin cup chained there. The name of the hotel was
changed in 1907 to "The Columbia Springs Health Home." Here in one of
nature's loveliest spots, well to do Ilionites and others could take
advantage of the "purer ozone" of the resort. It was finally torn down
when prosperity vanished as the automobile replaced the coach.
Various other hotels attracted patronage thruout the early days. In
1876 the Central developed from a boarding house into lodgings of
spacious proportions. The four stories fronted on both Railroad Street and
the canal, with two entrances on Railroad Street, one for general
business, the other for ladies and families. It was "gotten up, furnished
and kept in a neat, tasty, and inviting manner." In 1910 the Central was
known as the Hotel Williams. The Kinne Hotel, also called the American
House, was located in the Harter block on First Street before the
building was removed for the erection of the present post office. The White
Hotel stood where the Cosman block and Best Hardware now stand.
Otsego House goes back at least to Civil War days and for nearly 100
years has catered to the public of Ilion. Hotel Ilion was started in
1890 by George N. Caswell who managed the hotel in Cedarville and the
Waverly in Herkimer. It's name was changed to Hotel Ilion in 1910. For
many years the residence on the corner of E. Clark and Railroad Streets
had been a rooming and boarding house, first under Mrs. Charlotte
Jones, next under Mr. and Mrs. Hunt. In 1893 it was bought by Patrick
Flahaven who in 1896 extended it to the sidewalk with a three story
addition.
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