by George A. Nye
Introductory Remarks
For the facts presented in this article on the old Wright
House I am indebted first of all to the old copies of the Northern
Indianian which was founded in Warsaw 90 years ago and which was
the leading weekly paper of the county for over fifty years. I
have also consulted the old deed records in the recorder's office
and the old records of the commissioners' court. Besides these
I have talked with some people who remembered Benjamin Wright
and some of the business places of the day.
Mr. Wright was a prominent man of the town, a heavy-set man. His
brother, E. Rigdon Wright, also well known as a merchant, owned
a farm northwest of town and lived in the large square house southwest
of the present postoffice. He was champion checker player of northern
Indiana. He was an excellent Bible student but had a strange religion.
When he died Judge Haymond read the burial rites and there was
no other. He and Caleb Hendee were both spiritualists.
Aside from Jack Shoup, George Loveday, Elmer Funk, Al Cuffel and
Frank MacConnell, there are few people living today who remember
much about the old hotel and its owners.
Loveday tells the story that when his father first came here in
the early 80's they put up at the hotel. It was a very cold night
and stormy. The room they had was so cold that his father went
down to the office and asked for a warmer room. While the argument
was on, Dr. J. M. Byler, who had his office over Gabner's hardware
store, came in from making a country call at Deerwester's on Eagle
lake. Doc was very cold. His great cowskin overcoat was all covered
with frost. His whiskers were white with snow. When Tommy Loveday
turned around and saw Byler he said: "Heavens man! What room
up there did you have?"
A complete history of the hotels in this county would be interesting.
In the papers for 1864 Ben Wright ran a card throughout the year.
Below it was a card for the Empire House at Leesburg, ran by Joseph
H. Lessig. Every village and town had its hotels. In connection
there was usually a livery barn.
Wright built his barn in 1864 west of the parking lot north of
The Daily Times building. He also had a pigpen south of the barn.
East of Popham's Exchange on the corner was a barn operated by
Chapin Pierce. In 1864 he sold it to Asa Pratt.
From the two hotels, stages ran every day to Goshen and back.
Jacob Fogle was one of the drivers. From the Weirick hotel on
the corner of Lake and Center streets, stages ran to the towns
in the south-west part of the county.
This story is told of a Negro porter at the Popham hotel who was
to go along one day to Goshen. It happened to be the day when
there was to be an eclipse of the sun. He said that he guessed
he would not go because he did not want to miss seeing the eclipse!
The Kirtley house livery barn on the northwest corner, Center
and Indiana streets, burned in the fire of 1867. About three years
later the Wigwam was hastily built on this corner. In it were
held local theatricals and political meetings. During the 1890s
this became Huffer's livery barn.
The Wright House for many years was the principal landmark of
the town along with the Moon Block, the Cosgrove block, Chipman's
store, and the White block, where the corner candy kitchen building
has stood for 40 years. Miller's boot and shoe store, for example,
was "opposite the Wright House" and Kelly's tailor shop
was "next-door east of the Wright House."
On January 29, 1880, the old tavern received some free advertising.
A man named Morris, who was a traveling stone-cutter, had been
put to bed in the fourth story by the marshal. In his intoxicated
state of mind Morris got over to the window and jumped out of
the window, falling to the cobblestone gutter on Buffalo Street.
He died after a short time. Many tales could be told of these
days when hotels were real centers of hospitality both for man
and beast.
The Old Wright House
A crew of workmen are now engaged in changing the top part of
the Pottenger building on lot 45 east of the cigar store corner.
This four-story front is all that remains of the old Lake View
hotel which was a four-story building reaching to Buffalo Street.
Reviewing the history of this Lot 45, we find that it was first
sold to George R. Thralls by Charles Sleeper for $150 on April
20, 1839. Thralls & Pottenger then were proprietors of a drug
store just across the alley and north of the corner under study.
Thralls was nicknamed "Old Watch" and was for some years
the local editor of the Northern Indianian.
In 1839 Warsaw was a village of only a few families. The sale
of lots which commenced in 1836 proceeded very slowly. The only
records available for these early time of the 1830's are those
of the commissioners' court. The Losure Tavern and the home of
Matthew D. Springer were the only two places worthy of the name
hotel during these trying times when people were not sure that
Warsaw would survive.
Among First Hotel Keepers
In 1843 Michael Funk arrived in Warsaw with his son, Joseph. He
drove through in a covered wagon from Wayne County, Ohio, where
he had been a merchant, and brought with him some merchandise
with which he started a store in the village. He purchased Lot
45 and placed his stock of goods in a frame building on the east
and on the lot where Stevenson's store is now located. Leaving
his son Joe in charge of the store, he went back to Ohio and the
next year brought his wife and the other six children. He built
a tavern on the west end of the lot and became one of Warsaw's
first hotel keepers.
In those days when court was in session, attorneys came here from
South Bend, Fort Wayne and other places and Funk's tavern was
a busy place. Unfortunately, Michael Funk died of pneumonia on
May 4, 1846, in the prime and vigor of life. His son, Joe, taught
school. Bram Funk grew to manhood in Warsaw and became a prominent
citizen.
About the time that Mr. Funk operated the hotel here, William
J. Pope had a store on what is now the post office corner. It
was made of tamarack poles. Jacob Losure had a tavern at the southwest
corner of Lake and Center streets. Philip Lash had a blacksmith's
shop in the village, John Giselman, a chair shop; and H. Higby
a furniture shop. There were a few houses on Buffalo Street and
a frame court house at Center and Indiana streets.
Early Pastimes in Warsaw
In 1845 Reub Williams as a boy came to the village of Warsaw and
became playmate of Bram Funk. They skated on a pond just southwest
of the old tavern. Some other boys of that time were Charley Chapman,
Tom Bryan, Horatio Harvey, Hank Robinson, Lishe Frush, Dan Bratt
and Mip Davis. They had many pastimes. Chicken and watermelon
bouyas were common. For other amusements they had May-day festivals,
wax taffy-pullings, log-rollings, barn-raisings, husking-bees,
bellings, shindigs and spelling-bees.
No streets were graded at that time. Due to the fact that Peter
Warner had a dam in the river west of town to furnish power for
his mills, the water in Center Lake sometimes came up almost to
Horn's chair factory which was north of the public square. In
1854 we find that the tavern on lot 45 was owned and operated
by L. W. Sandborn & Company. The name of it was the Tremont
house. It had a competitor a half a block east called Popham's
Exchange.
In 1855 Ben Wright came to the fast growing town of Warsaw. The
next year he and his brother Rigdon Wright bought the hotel which
they kept for twenty-seven years. It was known then as the Wright
house and the editor used to say that Ben Wright was the right
man in the right place.
Shortly after the Civil War closed Mr. Wright remodeled the place
and enlarged it. Then on June 8, 1867 the old Wright house caught
afire and, being a frame building, was completely consumed. The
fire started in a warehouse near Captain Curtis' saloon east of
the hotel. In spite of good work by the fire department, the blaze
spread east to the Kirtley house (located then on site of the
Eagles' building) and to Berst's livery barn and north to Lathrop's
saloon, which was saved by tearing down an old frame building
just south of it. The new Baptist church on the northeast corner
of Indiana and Center streets was saved with wet bedding and canvas.
The fire department then had a hand-pumper and pumped water from
cisterns. The old hose would not stand the pressure and had to
be reinforced with anything which could be found to wrap around
them.
Fire Loss Heavy
The loss in this fire of almost 80 years ago was $42,500, distributed
among Wright, Kirtley, Curtis, Berst, and Lathrope. In 1870 on
the side of this block was built the Wigwam. Hotels then had a
livery barn in connection. The barn for the old Wright house was
located at the alley intersection between Center and Markets streets.
Afterwards this became the saloon site of Wall Street Exchange
and the Little Casino adjoining, operated respectively by Frank
Breading, Frank McCauley and Eli Snyder. The new Kirtley house
was the first to open after the fire. It was fittingly dedicated
on June 18, 1868, with a grand ball.
The New Wright House
The new Wright House opened its doors to the public on Aug. 12,
1869. Ben Wright and Dan Shoup built the hotel part; Thralls and
Grabner built a part and Haymond another part. Sam Weirick was
the architect, Levi Zumbrun and William Grimm the bricklayers,
Eugene Sheffield was the painter, Hank June, the grainer, and
E. S. Blackford, the plasterer, on the new hotel. The hotel occupied
the three top floors. There was an entrance from Center street
which led up to an office. East of this office was a lobby and
north of the lobby was a spacious dining room.
It was the day of oil lamps or candles, the day of straw ticks
and rag carpets. Stoves and fireplaces were used for heating.
There was no running water, so water was placed in the rooms in
large pitchers. Guests could stay in the best room of the hotel
and eat three good meals for two dollars a day. Rates at cheaper
hotels were as low as 75 cents a day.
The new building was an imposing structure with a balcony on the
south and west sides. The lower floor was rented out to various
concerns, George Pringle's saloon was on the corner. Ed Hinds
also had a watch-repair shop in one room. North of the hotel on
the alley was a one-story frame building with a frame awning over
the board walk. This was Lathrop's saloon. North of it was a row
of frame buildings.
Becomes Lake City Hotel
On April 19, 1882 Ben Wright died. The hotel was taken over by
Mr. Kirtley and was called the Lake City hotel. These were busy
days in town, for the court house was being built, a new block
south of the public square was going up and also four fronts opposite
the hotel on the south.
On the evening of March 21, 1883 the Wright house was discovered
to be on fire. The fire started in the lamp room. There was a
strong wind blowing from the west. Bob Shaw arrived with the steamer
and Perry Brown was on hand as fire chief. William Conrad was
foreman. After pumping all the cisterns dry within a radius of
two blocks, the firemen telegraphed to Fort Wayne for help.
Fort Wayne sent equipment down on a special train which made a
record run to Warsaw, arriving here about 7:40 p.m. the firemen
brought with them 1000 feet of hose which, attached to our 600
feet, made a line that reached to Center lake. They now had a
cistern that could not be pumped dry in a few hours. The fire
was brought under control.
Grabner Building Saved
A firewall saved the Grabner part of the building which is now
being remodeled. The morning after the fire both streets were
littered with bedding, beds and hotel furniture. A stone fell
and broke a window across the street in Edson Spangle's watch-repair
shop. Jack Lee worked at the fire, caught cold and died a few
days later at the home of Mrs. John Dineen.
The Wright house fire was one of the biggest that Warsaw ever
experienced. The blaze could be seen from distant points round
about the city. The city council immediately began to plan for
better fire protection.
It was not many years until the water works was built at the foot
of Buffalo street and water mains placed throughout the uptown
district. To prove that there was force behind the water, four
streams were thrown over the top of the court house.
After the fire, the corner was rebuilt by Dan Shoup and the Masonic
lodge. The building stands there today. Reub Williams called it
the Temple block. The Masons occupied the first floor until the
present Masonic temple was built about 1924. No longer was this
corner to be used as a hotel cite. C. W. Chapman and Charles L.
Sieloff started the corner cigar store there in September 1883.
An Indian statue stood at the corner for perhaps thirty years.
In 1884 the Hotel Hays was opened to the public for the first
time. There were forty-four rooms. The Kirtley house continued
in business until about 1915 when it closed up as a hotel and
part of it was used as a depot for the Winona interurban lines.
In the 1890's it was called the White House, and was operated
by William S. Forler.
And so we leave the story of the old Wright house. Much more could
be written about the Wright family and the other owners of the
place. A great deal could be written about the customs of the
day and about some of the men who stayed there, including the
Immortal J. N., James Whitcomb Riley and others. It would be interesting,
too, to write about the different places of business that surrounded
the old hotel, but we leave this for another unpublished article
of greater scope entitled "History of the Taverns in Kosciusko
County."
Warsaw Daily Times February 23, 1946
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