Catskill Mountaineer

The Kaaterskill Hotel

Kaaterskill Hotel
OVERVIEW: The Kaaterskill Hotel (sometimes called Hotel Kaaterskill in the 1800's) was originally built in 1881 by George Harding. It was located on the summit of South Mountain in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York. It originally had 600 rooms, and was later expanded to 1,200 rooms. It was one of the largest hotels in the United States in the 1800's. It had a outstanding view of the Kaaterskill Clove and Kaaterskill Mountain Range on the front side of the hotel. On the back side of the hotel, patroons had a outstanding view of North and South Lake and North Mountain. He built the Kaaterskill Hotel at of a staggering cost of 1.5 million dollars. Which in it's day, was an enormous amount of money. The Hotel even had it's own US postal zip code. The hotel burned to the ground on September 11, 1924. Thru the years of operation, the Kaaterskill Hotel had famous visitors like Oscar Wilde, Lillian Langtree, John Wanamaker, Ulysses S. Grant, and US President Chester A. Arthur. There were visitors from every major city in the world. This made the Kaaterskill Hotel the largest and most magnificent mountain hotel in the world


Kaaterskill Hotel ABOUT THE OWNER: George Harding was born on October 27, 1827 in Philidelphia. He gradulated from University of Pennsylvania Law School and was admitted to the Bar on September 5, 1849.

He became a famous Patent attorney. He represented Samuel F.B. Morse in his invention of the telegraph. He also represented McCormick in farm harvesting equipment. During his career, he also worked with Abraham Lincoln.

He died on or about November 18, 1902.


CONCEPT OF THE HOTEL: The story of how the hotel was conceived is almost as famouns as the Kaaterskill Hotel. In the summer of 1880, George Harding was vacationing at the Catskill Mountain House near North and South Lake in the Catskill Mountains. His daughter was on a diet of no red meat, and on this particular day, the Catskill Mountain House was only serving Roast Beef. Mr Harding demanded that the waiter bring his daugher fried chicken. The waiter refused to bring them fried chicken. After some heated debate, the owner of the Catskill Mountain House, Charles Beach, was called in to settle the dispute. Still George Harding wouldn't hear of the denial of his request. Finally, Charles Beach told George Harding that if he wanted fried chicken, he should build his own hotel. George Harding checked out of the Catskill Mountain House, and started to planning to build a bigger and better hotel then the Catskill Mountain House (which was very famous) that would serve Fried Chicken. George Harding purchased a large track of land less then a mile from the Catskill Mountain House on the summit of South Mountain. The following year, he opened the Kaaterskill Hotel. The competition between Beach and Harding became well known as the "Fried Chicken War". The feud between the two ego driven men lasted until the death of both men in 1902



CONSTRUCTION OF THE HOTEL: The first stage of construction cost almost $450,000 in 1880/1881 and lasted 8 months. Ground was broken on September 14, 1880, and completed in July of 1881. Harding spared nothing in the construction of the Kaaterskill Hotel. Nothing but the best was used, with the latest innovations. In later years, he enlarged and enhanced the hotel, and spent another $1,000,000. The original building used 2 million board feet of lumber, 135,000 square feet of carpet, 750,000 square feet of plaster, and 800 windows
Harding hired the best firms and people he could find. Listed below are the companies and people he hired to complete his project:
  • Architech: S.D. Batton (Philadelphia, Penn)
  • Master Builder: Elias L. Dutcher (Cairo, New York)
  • Lumber: Meech & Dibble (Hunter, New York) and Dutcher & Roe ( Eastkill, New York)
  • Millwork: Edwin Lampman (Haines Falls, New York)
  • Mason: Smith & Sheer (Albany, New York)
  • Plumber: John Worthington (Philadelphia, Penn)
  • Roofer: Maginley (Philadelphia, Penn)
  • Decorator: J.D. Melrose (Poughkeepsie, New York)
  • Kitchen: Dramell & Dean (New York City)
  • Building a hotel of this size in 8 monthswas unheard of. Elias Dutcher was responsible for making this happen. Dutcher had employed 800 workers to complete it. But, it did come with a price. Thief of materials was common. The legend of the thief of materials lived on decades. It seems Harding was very free with his money. Some surmise that Harding wanted to let Beach know that money was no object to getting fried chicken. Others, suggest that with such an aggressive schedule, no one had time to do proper accounting and control. Both theories are probably right.
    The Hotel had a main building with 3 major wings. Off to the west was a barn. A mile away they had a laundry room. Here are some of the original dimensions of the hotel:
  • Main Building: 324x44' with four stories (57,024 square feet - Piazza, lobby, stairs, stores)
  • Towers: 34x34' with six stories (13,872 square feet)
  • North-West Wing: 224x42' with four stories (37,632 square feet - Dining Hall, Parlors, Amusement Hall, rooms)
  • East Wing: 90x26' with four stories (9,360 square feet - rooms and baths)
  • North Wing (from end of East Wing): 141x30' with four stories (16,920 square feet - Kitchen, children dining room, employee rooms)
  • Laundry Building: 120x80' (9,600 square feet - 1 mile away from the hotel
  • Ice House: 65x30' (1,950 square feet - next to hotel
  • Barn: 240x32' (15,360 square feet - located west of the hotel)
  • Kaaterskill Hotel
    Listed above is a plans for the First Floor of the original hotel (before the annex) was added on.
  • Basement: Four lane bowling alley (unknown size) and a Billards Room (44x34' - 1,496 square feet)
  • First Floor: Lobby (256x20' - 5,120 square feet), Dining Room (224'x42' - 9,408 square feet), unknown number of Sleeping Rooms (east wing), Grand Staircase to other floors, passenger elevators, baggage elevators, coat rooms, wash rooms, ice-rooms, barber-shop, drug store, accounting offices, cigar shop, reading-room, wine-room, and a number of other rooms.
  • Second Floor: Reception Parlor (41x30), Main Parlor (41x90), Amusement Hall (70x41 with dressing rooms), Children's Dining-room, 77 Rooms, Bath Rooms and Closets, etc. There was also a balcony (20x80) off of the Main Building
  • Third & Forth Floor: There were 397 rooms on the 3rd and 4th floor. Single rooms are 9x16. Double rooms 16x16. Ceiling of the rooms and hallways were 10 to 13 feet high. Rooms were furnished with the best amenities. Every room had blackwalnut/marble cabinets and sinks with modern water values, gas lamps, steam radiators, and electric service bells.
  • It is important to remember that Harding expanded the hotel to TWICE this size within the following years. It went from 600 rooms to 1,200 rooms.



    OPERATION OF THE HOTEL: Harding hired Capt. E.A. Gillett to be General Manager of the hotel. Gillett was very experienced at running large hotels in New Jersey and Philadelphia. It was said by journalist that Gillett, "knows how to keep a hotel". Harding had cut a new road from Palenville to the Hotel, instead of using the Rip Van Winkle Trail north of Palenville. Additionally, there was a major train station in Haines Falls. The kitchen had the best French Chefs. Trails were cut throughout South Mountain for vistors. Boulder Rock, Inspiration Point, Sunset Rock, and Kaaterskill Falls were favorites of the guest. Guest could also take carriage rides in the country side. Listed below were some of the posted rates in 1883:
  • Rates in August were $30-35/week for single rooms, and $60-75/week for double rooms.
  • Rates in September were $25-30/week for single rooms, and $50-60/week for double rooms.
  • Rates for families were determined by the number of rooms and locations within the hotel.
  • Maids and Coachmen were charged $15/week.
  • Servants were charged $25/week.
  • Transients were charged $5/day.
  • Ice House: 65x30' (1,950 square feet - next to hotel
  • In spite of the high rates of rooms, and high occupancy rates, Harding never made a profit from the hotel. After the death of Harding in 1902, the hotel was sold to Harry Tannenbaum of Lakewood, New Jersey. The Tannenbaum's owned the hotel for another two decades.
    In 1891, the Town of Hunter decided to revote and not re-issue a Liquor License to continue the operating the hotel. Harding, being an cleaver attorney, knew that the town's decision was political, and any objections made directly to the town would be fall on "deaf ears". Harding then invited the entire New York State Legislature, along with the Town Board, along with any person who could influence the Town of Hunter, to a lavish and extravagant dinner. In all, there were 1,360 people invited and seated for this grand dinner. Harding made sure that they were wined and dined like they had never been wined and dined. He charted trains from Albany and other areas to make the visit easy and pleasurable. Listed below is the transcript of the speach he made before his guest:
    "Gentlemen, you here represent the entire legislative power of the State of New York. The Town of Hunter has placed in office men pledged to issue no license to this or any other hotel. You can here and now enact a measure shifting the boundary line of the adjoining towns of Hunter and Catskill just 1,000 feet, thereby removing the Kaaterskill from the Town of Hunter to the Town of Catskill.
    Needless to say, the Town of Hunter quickly removed two of the three commissions, and elected new ones. Had they not done this, the Town of Hunter would have lost a significant amount of tax revenue.



    THE END OF THE HOTEL: There are two stories of how the Kaaterskill Hotel burned. On the evening of September 11, 1924, workers were cleaning the kitchen and that is how the fire started. A second story alleges that workers were making soap, and that is how it caught fire. The fire spread very quickly, and burned the hotel to the ground along with several nearby buildings. Witnesses stated that within two hours, the hotel was a white hot fire pit. The fire was so massive that it could be seen from Connecticut and Massachusetts. The owner at the time, Mrs Henry Tannenbaum had left that afternnon for New Jersey, and returned when she learned that their hotel was burning. A sprinkler system was installed the previous year. It was surmised that the fire spread so quickly, that the sprinkler system could not overcome the fast growing fire. The hotel was only insured for $150,000 at the time, so the Tennenbaum's lost a significant amount of money.



    North and South Lake Main Entrance to the Kaaterskill Hotel.
    North and South Lake Left of the Main Entrance of the Kaaterskill Hotel. You can see Round Top Mountian on the left side of the picture. Round Top Mountain is part of the Kaaterskill Mountain Range.
    North and South Lake Right of the Main Entrance of the Kaaterskill Hotel. It also shows the Annex, which as added after July of 1881 helping increase the number of rooms from 600 to 1,200 rooms.
    North and South Lake This picture was taken from the left side the Kaaterskill Hotel looking eastward towards the Hudson Valley. It shows the massive size of the Hotel.
    North and South Lake We believe that his picture was taken from the pond towards the back of the hotel. Now there are trees where the lawn is.
    North and South Lake This picture shows the Annex that was added on to the hotel, which added another 600 rooms to the hotel.
    North and South Lake We believe that this is the right side of the Kaaterskill Hotel (from the front of the hotel). Taken from the Garden Path.
    North and South Lake Picture from the eastern front side of the Kaaterskill Hotel. Probably taken from Boulder Rock or Split Rock.
    North and South Lake Postcard of the front of Kaaterskill Hotel. The postcard shows the Annex. Geographically, the picture is not correct.
    North and South Lake Postcard taken of Kaaterskill Hotel. View taken from what we now call the Escarpment Trail.
    North and South Lake Postcard taken of Kaaterskill Hotel. View from the Garden Path.
    North and South Lake Postcard taken of Kaaterskill Hotel. View from South Lake of the back side of the hotel.
    North and South Lake Postcard taken of Kaaterskill Hotel. View from the Garden Path.
    North and South Lake Picture from the eastern front side of the Kaaterskill Hotel. Probably taken from Boulder Rock or Split Rock.
    North and South Lake Postcard of the Kaaterskill Hotel. View from the Garden Path.
    North and South Lake Postcard of the Kaaterskill Hotel. View from the front of the Hotel.
    North and South Lake Postcard of the Kaaterskill Hotel. Instead of a painted picture, this one is of a photograph. It was probably taken around 1185, and was taken in the Fall. The Mountain Laurel still has their leaves, so this is how we determined that it was taken in the Fall.
    North and South Lake Postcard of the Kaaterskill Hotel. Taken from the Garden Path. Believed to be a "colorized" photograph.
    North and South Lake Postcard of the Kaaterskill Hotel. Believed to be a photograph taken near the end of construction in 1881.
    North and South Lake Postcard of the Kaaterskill Hotel from South Lake. Shows the back of the hotel. Photograph was taken in 1909 by Samuel E Rusk of Haines Falls, New York. Post Card #569.
    North and South Lake Postcard of the Kaaterskill Hotel from the western side. The postcard is NOT accurate.
    North and South Lake Picture of the Parlor Kaaterskill Hotel.
    North and South Lake Picture of the Lobby in the Main section of Kaaterskill Hotel.
    North and South Lake Picture of the Ballroom of the Kaaterskill Hotel.
    North and South Lake Picture of the Dining Room of the Kaaterskill Hotel.
    North and South Lake Picture of the Kaaterskill Hotel from Boulder Rock (Bowlder Rock).
    North and South Lake Picture of the Kaaterskill Hotel from Boulder Rock (Bowlder Rock).
    North and South Lake Picture of the Barns west of the Kaaterskill Hotel.
    North and South Lake Back of the Hotel.
    North and South Lake Click to read Newspaper. (730k)
    North and South Lake Click to read Newspaper (700k).
    North and South Lake Haines Corners Station located in Haines Falls, New York. This train station was located several miles west of the Kaaterskill Hotel.
    Links and References:
     
    Catskill Archive - Laurel House
     
    Hike to the old Hotel Kaaterskill site

     

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