Other:
After Hotel Dacotah Site. Grand Forks, N. D., Jan. 8. – Mayor Dinnie and several prominent business men are endeavoring to raise enough money by private subscription to buy the site occupied by the burned Hotel Dacotah. The Security Trust company offers to sell for $12,500. If the citizens will give the site, Viets & Dow offer to put up a three-story $60,000 hotel, using the foundation of the old building. Residents are not enthusiast over the matter, but it is expected that enough money can be raised to secure the site. The Security Trust company names the price for the property with the understanding that the hotel is ready for business during the year. (The Saint Paul Globe, Sunday, January 9, 1898, Volume XXI, Number 9, Page 5)
A New Hotel Dakota. Special to the Globe. Grand Forks, Jan. 10. – That this city will have a hotel of as great capacity as the Hotel Dakota, within a very few months, seems to be assured. The committee which has been at work raising sufficient funds to buy the site of the old building report progress and almost enough has been subscribed to make the purchase. Viets & Dow, who will put up the new hostelry, have had plans made for a handsome three-story brick and stone structure and as soon as the weather will permit work of rebuilding will be commenced, using the same foundation as the old building did. The new hotel will have as many rooms as the old one and there will be but little difference in the size of the rooms. If present plans are carried out there will be more building done here this year than for six years past. (The Saint Paul Globe, Tuesday, January 11, 1898, Volume XXI, Number 11, Page 7)
Hotel Dacotah to Be Rebuilt. Grand Forks, N. D., Jan. 24. – Arrangements have been in progress ever since the big fire of Dec. 17 for the rebuilding of the Hotel Dacotah, and there is now every prospect that the negotiations will be brought to a successful issue in a very short time. A syndicate of Grand Forks business men have agreed to build the hotel on condition that the site on which the old building stood is given them as a bonus, and almost enough money has been subscribed for this purpose. (The Saint Paul Globe, Tuesday, January 25, 1898, Volume XXI, Number 25, Page 3)
Grand Forks New Hotel. Special to The St. Paul Globe. Grand Forks, N. D., June 11. – The contract for the erection of Hotel Dacotah was let tonight to Anderson and Hunter, of this city. The contract price is not stated. The building will be three stories high. Seven bids were received, four being from the Twin City contractors. (The Saint Paul Globe, Sunday, June 12, 1898, Volume XXI, Number 163, Page 7)
THE DACOTAH.
A Magnificent Hotel, Perfect in Its Appointments.
The largest and finest hotel in the city, and in many respects in the state, is the Dacotah, occupying the site of the hotel which was destroyed in the disastrous fire of December 1897.
The present hotel was built in the summer of 1898, and the fact that the former building was so soon replaced by a structure equally large, and more substantial is due to the energy and enterprise of Messrs. J. D. Bacon and W. B. Wood, the proprietors of the new hotel.
The hotel occupies a space 125×125 feet, and is three stories above the basement. The ground floor is occupied by the roomy and well lighted dining room, the magnificent office, the reading room, cigar store and barber shop. A broad, and easy staircase leads to the second floor where are the parlors, and in the remaining space are the 100 guest rooms, servants’ quarters, etc.
Special care was taken in the arrangement of the rooms to secure abundance of light and ventilation, and the plans of the architect have proven perfectly satisfactory in this respect.
The outward appearance of the building is in keeping with its interior. Built of red brick and trimmed with brown stone, it is plain, substantial and yet tasteful. The same idea has been carried out in every portion of the building. There is not a piece of tawdry ornamentation in the entire house. Its beauty is a beauty that will wear.
Too much praise cannot be given the management for the manner in which the hotel is operated. The service, both upstairs and down is perfection, and the meals served are such as can only be prepared by the most experienced chefs from the best materials to be found in the market. The hotel is a credit to its proprietors and to the city, and is popularity is evidenced by the fact that from the day when it was opened until the present time its patronage has been beyond the expectations of those who are responsible for its existence. No better house is to be found in the northwest. (Grand Forks Daily Herald, Tuesday Morning, June 27, 1899, Volume 18, Number 205, Page 14)
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The Hotel Dacotah stands on grounds once occupied by a hotel
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built by a syndicate, and run by John Dow. It burned down and the present large structure was built in 1898. It is 125×125 and has two hundred rooms, and is one of the largest and best equipped hotels in the state. It is owned by Jerry D. Bacon. (History of the Red River Valley Past and Present, Volume II, C. F. Cooper & Company, Chicago, 1909)
GRAND FORKS HOTEL FIRE. Guests of the Dacotah in a Fright – Loss is but $1,000
Special to The Journal. Grand Forks, N. D., June 8. – A fire, which started in the kitchen, did $1,000 or more damage to Hotel Dacotah at 4 o’clock this morning and gave several hundred guests a terrible fright. The fire department did excellent work, and, with the standpipes in the building, soon had the fire controlled. Business at the hotel will not be delayed. (The Minneapolis Journal, Wednesday Evening, June 8, 1904, Page 1)
Page 86. The Hotel Dacotah. When the first Hotel Dacotah, on the 17th day of December, 1897, became the victim of the greatest conflagration in the history of the city, and every vestige of the magnificent building was swept away in one short hour, excepting a portion of the foundation walls, the calamity was a most disastrous one, threatening even the future of the city itself.
The old hotel had not been a success financially, and no outside capital would again invest in an enterprise which promised such poor results. Then it was that two of Grand Forks’ citizens, with large faith in the future of the city, gave new evidence of “the stuff they were made of ,” by undertaking the formidable task of rebuilding the Dacotah. Such an undertaking took grit, and Grand Forks city certainly owes much to the men who had it. And it not only took grit, but business ability, push, enterprise, determination and many other qualities to make it a success. That success has rewarded their commendable effort is due very much to the character of the men who undertook it, and as well to the policy they have carried out in the management of the Dacotah.
During the present season the proprietors of the Dacotah have given new evidence of their faith in the future of Grand Forks by remodeling, enlarging and improving the building, until it is now not only the largest and finest hotel in the state, but in the northwest as well, and giving Grand Forks the best facilities of any city in the west for entertaining visitors, conventions, etc.
The Hotel Dacotah, remodeled and enlarged, occupies the entire five stories, including the basement, of the magnificent building shown in the accompanying engraving. Fifty new guest rooms have just been added, an elevator service installed, also a new heating plant, electric light plant, and many other improvements, including new furniture throughout, involving an outlay of many thousand dollars. The main entrance is on the Third street front, through a handsome vestibule and large hall. Turning to the right from the hall we are in the lobby, occupying nearly one-fourth of the first floor, its broad plate glass windows affording a fine view of two of the city’s principle streets. In this room have occurred numerous notable gatherings, and many important business transactions have been arranged here. It has become, by common consent, the meeting place of business men and citizens generally from all over the northwest. “Meet me at the Dacotah” is an expression often heard.
At one end of the lobby is the new manager’s desk, presided over by genial “Jim” Bell, who is known familiarly to every business man, every professional man and every commercial man who comes to Grand Forks, the man with a memory a thousand miles long, an encyclopedia of information about every thing that guests may happen to want to know. As manager of the Dacotah Mr. Bell may be depended upon to keep the service of the Dacotah, as in the past, as good as the best that can be found in the United States.
The dining room occupies the east corner of the first floor and adjoins the office. It is a spacious and superbly decorated and furnished room, with a seating capacity of one hundred and fifty guests. A word about the service in passing. The Dacotah has won a wide reputation for the excellence of its meals. This is no accident. Messrs. Bacon & Wood, determined at the start that their efforts in this direction should not be lacking, and nothing has been left undone to secure the very best to be had for their guests, and to have it served in the most appetizing manner. The Dacotah’s chef has unquestionably no equal in the northwest. To secure the very choicest possible in the way of raw material, Lilac Hedge Dairy Farm, owned by Mr. Bacon, and but a short distance out from the city, has been fitted up, for the express purpose, and its chief business made to supply, as far as practicable, the necessities for the Dacotah’s tables. And it is Lilac Hedge Farm, two views of which are shown on these pages (shown under Bacon in the biography section), which supplies very largely the butter, eggs, milk, cream, poultry, fresh meats and vegetables of all kinds. And all come to the tables in the pink of condition. The most perfect and up to date dairy appliances care for the milk from the choicest of fancy dairy cows, and the best breeds of beef cattle are raised here to perfection for the supply as far as possible of the Dacotah’s needs. And the choicest of fruits and other delicacies also come to the Dacotah’s tables.
Page 87. The remainder of the first story is occupied by a large writing room for guests, news and cigar depot, barber shop, billiard parlor, lavatories, several commercial sample rooms, the pantries, refrigerators, the private office of the proprietors, etc. The basement is occupied by several spacious sample rooms, the kitchen, cold storage rooms, cellars, laundry, heating and lighting plants, help’s rooms, etc.
The second, third and fourth stories of the hotel are devoted entirely to the guest rooms, parlors, reception rooms, etc., one hundred and fifty of them. These floors are reached both by broad and easy stairways and by a fine passenger elevator, which is always on duty. Here we find wide hall-ways, cozy and inviting nooks, lic parlors, etc., furnished throughout in the most luxurious manner. All the outside rooms have hot and cold water, and a large proportion of the rooms have baths in connection. Rooms may be had ensuite if desired. The service throughout is the best that can be secured. Ample fire extinguishers are provided and a well drilled fire brigade, composed of the employees, with a fire alarm in every room, and special connection with Grand Forks’ very efficient fire department. The rates range from $2 to $4 per day. Nothing is left undone to make the stay of guests so thoroughly enjoyable that all will want to come again, and the commodious hotel, large as it is, is filled to the limit most of the time, and advance orders for rooms are desirable.
The Dacotah Livery, owned by Bacon & Van Alstine, is in direct communication and places at the services of guests the most complete livery equipment in the state. Anything wanted from a dog cart to a tallyho, of the finest of carriages for weddings, parties, etc., can be furnished in short order. (Grand Forks Herald, Silver Anniversary Edition, June 26, 1879 to June 26, 1904)