The Neil House was a historic hotel on

High Street High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...

Downtown Columbus, Ohio Downtown Columbus is the central business district of Columbus, Ohio. Downtown is centered on the intersection of Broad and High Streets, and encompasses all of the area inside the Inner Belt. Downtown is home to most of the tallest buildings ...

. The hotel operated on

Capitol Square Capitol Square is a public square in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. The square includes the Ohio Statehouse, its Capitol Grounds, as well as the buildings and features surrounding the square. The Capitol Grounds are surrounded on the north and west ...

from 1842 to 1980.

Attributes

High Street looking south from Broad Street 01

The hotel buildings were located on South

across from the

Ohio Statehouse The Ohio Statehouse is the state capitol building and seat of government for the U.S. state of Ohio. The Greek Revival building is located on Capitol Square in Downtown Columbus. The capitol houses the Ohio General Assembly, consisting of the H ...

First building

The first hotel building had five stories and 334 rooms. It was made of brick and black walnut, all taken from William Neil's farm in

Wyandot County, Ohio Wyandot County is a county located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,900. Its county seat is Upper Sandusky. It was named for the Wyandot Indians, who lived here before and after ...

Second building

The second Neil House building had 168 rooms.

Third building

The third hotel building was the largest, with 657 rooms at 13 stories. It featured a 13-panel mural by

Rainey Bennett Rainey Bennett (June 14, 1907 – July 26, 1998) was an American artist, illustrator and muralist. His works have been displayed in major museum art collections. Work The art collections of Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern ...

. This building was painted by folk artist William L. Hawkins, in ''Neil House with Chimney'' and ''Neil House with Chimney #2''.

History

There were three hotel buildings successively built on the site. William Neil built the hotels after arriving in the city in 1818, and having operated a tavern in the location from 1822 to 1839. Neil and his wife Hannah also became known for his stagecoach company, her mission for orphaned children, and their farm that became the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

campus around 1870. The first hotel built on that site was completed in 1842 at a cost of about $100,000. It was destroyed in a fire, along with the neighboring Odeon Theater, on November 6, 1860. The loss was only partly insured ($10,000, with a structural loss of $150,000), but Neil proceeded to build a smaller hotel on the site by 1862. This second hotel became future president

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...

's home as the

Governor of Ohio A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

from 1892 to 1896 (the McKinley Memorial stands where McKinley would stop and wave to his wife every morning). This second building was demolished in 1923 to make room for the larger third building. This third hotel opened in August 1925, in a celebration that included a dinner and dance for 770 investors and leading residents. It was a large building, twice as large as Columbus's second-largest hotel. The third hotel building closed in 1980 to make way for the Huntington Center.

References

External links

Emporis page
{{History of Columbus, Ohio Demolished buildings and structures in Downtown Columbus, Ohio Defunct hotels in Ohio 1842 establishments in Ohio 1980 disestablishments in Ohio Hotels established in 1842 Hotels disestablished in 1980 Buildings and structures demolished in 1980 Hotels in Columbus, Ohio Yost and Packard buildings High Street (Columbus, Ohio)