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| Garrett County History | ||
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“Great Hotels” |
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Since the first settlers built their cabins in Garrett County, travelers have always found a
place to stay over night. However, as the “westward movement” of population began, taverns
began to appear along the trails that eventually became roads. People would build a large two
storied log house and go into the tavern business. Many of them were located along the old
Braddock Road and, later, taverns of better design and accommodations appeared on the National
Road as well as the Northwestern Turnpike.
One of the earliest “hotels” in the County is the Casselman Inn located in Grantsville; it dates back to 1842. |
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Railroads and Cool Air |
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The entrance of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad into southern Garrett County began an new era
of hotel accommodations. As the railroad began to push westward, hotels were built next to the
station and either privately owned or owned by the railroad. They were patronized by travelers
who did not want to ride a train all night, but would stop at the hotel and then resume their
journey the next day. Later, they were for passengers who wished to spend a week or so relaxing
in the cool air of the station towns which were away from the cities.
The Glades Hotel in Oakland was an excellent example of a hotel where there was cool air. Built in 1859, the hotel quickly filled with visitors in its first season. Included among the guests at the Glades Hotel was Senator Jefferson Davis. He was not well and spent three weeks at the hotel under the medical care of Dr. J. Lee McComas of Oakland. In successive years, the Glades Hotel was expanded until it was three times it’s original size and stretched almost 200 feel beside the railroad tracks across from the Oakland station. Unfortunately, it caught fire and burned down in 1874 and set the station on fire as well. The hotel was rebuilt, slightly to the east of the station, and existed there until it was torn down in 1905; the site of the hotel is now part of the town’s parking lot. |
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Deer Park Hotel |
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In 1858, John W. Garrett became President of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. He was not a
stranger to western Maryland and had many acquaintances in the Oakland – Deer Park area. Among
the people he knew and worked with was Henry G. Davis; undoubtedly, it was Davis who promoted
the idea of a hotel in the cool air of the mountain top.
Of course, the “resort hotel” idea did not develop in a vacuum because many of the East Coast railroads were finding that a lucrative passenger business could be built up by transporting people from a city to railroad-owned hotels in the mountains. Thus, the B.&O. Railroad ventured into the “resort hotel” business in 1869, when they purchased several hundred acres of Perry family’s “Anchorage Farm.” In 1872, the railroad built the center section of the Deer Park Hotel; and it opened for first time on July 4, 1873. The east and west wings of the hotel were added 1881-82 to provide the railroad with a hotel having 300 rooms. During the early 1870’s, H.G. Davis contracted to build a series of cottages on the hotel property, with the first one becoming John W. Garrett’s cottage. Later, this became the caretaker’s cottage, and Garrett had a more sumptuous summer home built to the west side of the hotel; he died there in the summer of 1884. |
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Oakland Hotel |
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A number of factors dictated that the Oakland Hotel of 1875 would be larger than the original
Deer Park Hotel center section. In the first years of it’s existence, the Deer Park Hotel
quickly became the exclusive domain of a number of very wealthy people. While it made a very
pleasant situation for the people who patronized the Deer Park Hotel, it contradicted the
original plan of the railroad to build up a large passenger service by transporting people
from the summer heat of the cities to the cool air of the mountains. Thus, the Oakland Hotel
was constructed as a 300 room hotel.
An interesting “first” is associated with both the Oakland Hotel and the Deer Park Hotel. The “first” has to do with the first telephone service put into use in Garrett County. Using the telegraph wires of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, telephone messages were transmitted between the lobby of the Oakland Hotel and the lobby of Deer Park Hotel. The service was inaugurated by none other than Alexander Graham Bell, himself. |
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Smaller Hotels and Summer Homes |
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Within 15 years after the construction of the big Oakland Hotel, there were almost a dozen
smaller hotels built in Oakland to accommodate visitors who came to the mountain top on the
railroad. Three of these small hotel buildings are still in existence in town: the vacant
Miller House across from the Ruth Enlow Library; the old Geisman Hotel beside the wooden
bridge over the railroad tracks on Third Street which is now an apartment house; and a hotel
last know as “The Rest” on the corner of Seventh and Alder Streets which has also been turned
into an apartment house.
One example of a summer home of well known people was the purchase of the Edwin Stabler house in Oakland in 1859 by Mrs. Francis Scott Key. (Stabler was the man who edited and published Meshach Browning’s book, “Forty Four Years The Life Of A Hunter.”) Mrs. Key enlarged the house and it was the summer home of her daughter and grandchildren, the Howard family of Baltimore. It was torn down in the 1960’s after the last survivor of the family, Julia McHenry Howard, died in 1959. Other houses built as summer homes are still in existence in Oakland and now occupied all year ‘round. One excellent example is Crook’s Crest; built as a summer home for General Crook on the top of a hill that overlooks the entire town, it is now the summer and winter home of Dr. Thomas Johnson. |
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Later Hotels - Mt. Lake Park |
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Oakland and Mt. Lake Park have existed side-by-side for over a century, and it is hard to
imagine a time when the “Park” did not exist. However, until the summer of 1881, it was 800
acres of trees and fields, belonging to the farm of William Waller Hoye. In that year, a group
of prominent men from Wheeling purchased 800 acres from Mr. Hoye to become a town devoted to
activities of a Methodist Church group. Their plan was to develop a small summer village
centered around religious and chautauqua type programs.
In 1882, the Mt. Lake Park Association built a large administration building later known as the Assembly Hall. Ten small summer cottages were quickly constructed, and the town of Mt. lake Park came into existence. Within the next five or six year a large number of summer homes had been constructed, increasing in size each year. By 1895. the Mountain Chautauqua at Mountain Lake Park was a huge success, with hundreds of people attending the many programs offered. To accommodate visitors who only wanted to be in Mountain Lake Park for a week or two, many small hotels sprang up through out the town. Today, some of these large Victorian type buildings are still standing and have become private homes. Largest of all the hotels built in Mt. Lake Park was the Mt. Lake Park Hotel. It was built in two stages; a large three story section in 1898, and a long two story addition built in 1902. It gradually became a center for many social activities in Mt. Lake Park until the beginning of World War II. Then, declining business forced its closure in the 1950’s, and it was finally razed in 1963. The Bashford Amphitheater was begun in 1899 and completed in 1900. This auditorium with its huge umbrella shaped roof had a seating capacity of 5,000 and was often filled to capacity by speakers of National reputation. In 1911, when William H. Taft spoke there, a crowd, estimated at 7,000 people, gathered under its roof to see and hear the President of the United States. In 1946 it was torn down for the lumber, because it was too expensive to maintain. Today, only the ticket booth for the amphitheater remains to testify of this unusual building’s existence. |
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The Lake At Mt. Lake Park |
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Although it was included in the name of the Mt. Lake Park Association, a lake did not exist
there for a number of years. As a matter of fact, it was almost 15 years after the founding of
Mt. Lake Park that an artificial lake was finally constructed in meadow land on the eastern
side of town. Although it became a popular spot for summer recreation with swimming and boating
one of it’s design features was to provide hydro-electric power to light the Association’s
Assembly Hall and Bashford Amphitheater.
During the winter months, ice was cut from the surface of the lake and stored in a large shed with a capacity to hold a reported twenty five hundred tons of ice. A railroad siding to the B. & O. Railroad served for transporting large shipments of ice from the lake. At one time the lake covered 22 acres and stretched all the way to Crystal Spring, 500 yards from the breast; now, it is the size of a farm pond. |
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Loch Lynn Hotel |
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In the summer of 1895, the famous Loch Lynn Hotel opened for summer guests. The decorum of the
hotel and the area around it was completely different that that of Mt. Lake Park, just across
the railroad tracks. Basically, it seemed to flaunt all the semi-religious restrictions
associated with the Park. It boasted a gambling casino, bars, dancing, and a host of other
recreation attractions. So completely different was it from the hotels and summer homes in
Mt. Lake Park, that the saying soon developed, “If you want to sin … … go to Loch Lynn!”
The large Loch Lynn Hotel burned down one September evening in 1915. The swimming pool building existed until 1986, when it was torn down for the lumber. |
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