The Grand Rapids Hotel also known as The Grand Rapids Resort, was a

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

that existed outside of

Mount Carmel, Illinois Mount Carmel is a city in and the county seat of Wabash County, Illinois, United States. At the time of the 2010 census, the population was 7,284, and it is the largest city in the county. The next largest town in Wabash County is Allendale, po ...

, in Wabash County,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Southern Illinois Southern Illinois, also known as Little Egypt, is the southern third of Illinois, principally along and south of Interstate 64. Although part of a Midwestern United States, Midwestern state, this region is aligned in culture more with that of th ...

from 1922 to 1929. The hotel was located on the

Wabash River The Wabash River ( French: Ouabache) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 river that drains most of the state of Indiana in the United States. It flows fro ...

next to the

Grand Rapids Dam The Grand Rapids Dam was a dam located on the Wabash River on the state line between Wabash County and Knox County in the U.S. states of Illinois and Indiana. The dam was built in the late 1890s by the Army Corps of Engineers to improve navigat ...

on land that was originally purchased by Thomas S. Hinde. Before the hotel was built, the property where the hotel was located was a site of a former homestead, and was used by Frederick Hinde Zimmerman for multiple small shops that sold goods to fisherman and tourists.

Frederick Hinde Zimmerman Frederick Hinde Zimmerman (October 17, 1864 – September 21, 1924) was an American banker, farmer, real estate entrepreneur, businessman, and hotel owner. Due to his large land holdings and expertise in farming, Zimmerman became a notable farme ...

was the founder and owner of the hotel, and he completed construction and opened the hotel to the public on August 7, 1922. The hotel had 36 rooms and one large assembly room that served as a dining room, meeting hall, and was used for weddings, exhibitions, anniversaries, and other important occasions. The hotel was one of the first major resorts on the southern portion of the Wabash River and quickly was able to attract tourist from across the country because of its location on the river and ease of access provided by the railroad. During its nine-year existence the hotel established a reputation for luxury and high quality. In later years, after manager

Glenn Goodart Ira Glenn Goodart (August 5, 1885 – November 8, 1948) was an American railroad conductor, hotel manager, county commissioner and county treasurer. Goodart was raised in Friendsville, Illinois, a small community outside of Mount Carmel, I ...

took over operation of the hotel, it gradually began to lose patronage due to incompetent business planning and flooding of the Wabash River in the summers of 1927, 1928, and 1929. On July 29, 1929, Glenn Goodart burned the Grand Rapids Hotel to the ground by dropping a blowtorch in the basement shop. Three months before Goodart burned the hotel down, the United States Senate Committee on Commerce had decided to remove the

by revoking funding. Due to the onset of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

shortly after the hotel was burned down, it was not rebuilt. The same year Goodart burned the hotel down he was elected as Finance Commissioner for

Wabash County, Illinois Wabash County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 11,361. Its county seat is Mount Carmel. It is located in the southern portion of Illinois known locally as " Little Egypt". ...

History

The land the hotel was built on was formerly part of a

Piankeshaw The Piankeshaw, Piankashaw or Pianguichia were members of the Miami tribe who lived apart from the rest of the Miami nation, therefore they were known as Peeyankihšiaki ("splitting off" from the others, Sing.: ''Peeyankihšia'' - "Piankeshaw Pers ...

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

summer campground. Thomas S. Hinde purchased the property in 1815 from the United States Government and quickly with other Methodist ministers founded the city of Mount Carmel, Illinois. To help entice people to settle in the city Thomas S. Hinde created the Wabash Navigation Company and eventually was able to charter a dam to be built next to the property where the hotel was later built. After the

was completed the dam and

Hanging Rock Hanging Rock may refer to: Australia * Hanging Rock, New South Wales, a mining village on the Northern Tablelands * Hanging Rock, Victoria, a rock formation **''Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel)'', a 1967 novel by Australian author Joan Lindsay ** ...

drew large numbers of tourists in the decades that followed.

, the grandson of Thomas S. Hinde, and the nephew of Captain

Charles T. Hinde Charles T. Hinde (July 12, 1832 – March 10, 1915) was an American industrialist, tycoon, riverboat captain, businessman, and entrepreneur. He managed many businesses and invested in numerous business ventures over the course of his life. ...

, built the Grand Rapids Hotel next to the Grand Rapids Dam in 1922. Construction of the hotel began in the early 1920s and was announced as being officially completed on August 2, 1922. According to the article that described the hotel, it had 36 rooms, bathing, boating, various other amusements, and was "...one of the greatest resort centers in the Wabash valley." The August 1925 edition of ''Outdoor Recreation Magazine'' described the fishing at Grand Rapids as where the, "...choicest table fish to be found in the river..." are located. Some people claim that

gangster A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from ''mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...

s referred to as the

Chicago Outfit The Chicago Outfit (also known as the Outfit, the Chicago Mafia, the Chicago Mob, the Chicago crime family, the South Side Gang or The Organization) is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate or crime family based in Chicago, Illinois, tha ...

associated with

Al Capone Alphonse Gabriel Capone (; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the ...

would take the train from Chicago and stay at the hotel. It is not known if the men were smuggling liquor in violation of

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

or merely vacationing. Other commentators have suggested that the blowtorch fire started by manager Glenn Goodart may have actually been a cover for an

alcohol still A still is an apparatus used to distill liquid mixtures by heating to selectively boil and then cooling to condense the vapor. A still uses the same concepts as a basic distillation apparatus, but on a much larger scale. Stills have been used ...

explosion in the basement. No matter the cause of the explosion it has been conclusively proven that alcohol was served at the hotel in violation of prohibition.

Architectural style

One source states that hotel design was partially based on the

Hotel del Coronado Hotel del Coronado, also known as The Del and Hotel Del, is a historic beachfront hotel in the city of Coronado, just across the San Diego Bay from San Diego, California. A rare surviving example of an American architectural genre—the wooden V ...

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

. Captain Hinde was a wealthy man who was an investor in the Hotel del Coronado with

John D. Spreckels John Diedrich Spreckels (August 16, 1853 – June 7, 1926), the son of German-American industrialist Claus Spreckels, founded a transportation and real estate empire in San Diego, California, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The entrepr ...

. It has been suggested, but has not yet been proven that the Reid Brothers designed the Grand Rapids Hotel because of Hinde's close relationship to the brothers while he lived in

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...

. Moreover, the Reid Brothers designed Hinde's house and church in

Coronado, California Coronado (Spanish for "Crowned") is a resort city located in San Diego County, California, United States, across the San Diego Bay from downtown San Diego. It was founded in the 1880s and incorporated in 1890. Its population was 24,697 at the ...

in 1887.

Operation

The Grand Rapids Hotel was the first major hotel in the region and had a nine-hole golf course and a baseball diamond on the grounds. During the hotel's operation, it was managed by

O.L. Rapson Oscar Luscher Rapson (November 3, 1883 – May 8, 1952) was an American farmhand, hotel manager and store owner. Rapson is best known for being the first manager of the Grand Rapids Hotel, which was the first major resort on the Wabash River ...

and

. Rapson managed the hotel from 1922 until 1924, and Goodart managed the hotel from 1924-1929. Many of the leading social organizations of the time had meetings or other social events at the hotel's restaurant and grounds. In 1929, the hotel burned under mysterious circumstances due to a blowtorch incident involving Goodart.

Baseball

The hotel had two baseball teams during its nine-year existence. The first team was the Grand Rapids Steppers and it existed from 1925–1927. The second team was the Mount Carmel Boosters and it only existed during the 1928 season. The baseball teams that the hotel sponsored and managed were very successful and played teams from all around the area. Baseball teams from

Hazleton Hazleton may refer to: Places * Hazleton, British Columbia, Canada * Hazleton, Gloucestershire, a village in Gloucestershire, England ** Hazleton long barrows, Neolithic burial mounds at Hazleton, Gloucestershire, England ** Hazleton Abbey, a me ...

Vincennes Vincennes (, ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is next to but does not include the Château de Vincennes and Bois de Vincennes, which are attached ...

, Grayville, Bicknell,

Evansville Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in S ...

, Haubstadt, Salem,

Marion Marion may refer to: People *Marion (given name) *Marion (surname) *Marion Silva Fernandes, Brazilian footballer known simply as "Marion" *Marion (singer), Filipino singer-songwriter and pianist Marion Aunor (born 1992) Places Antarctica * Mario ...

, Benton, Wheatland,

Johnson Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...

, and

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

played at the baseball diamond on the Grand Rapids Hotel grounds. Both teams were managed by hotel manager Glenn Goodart.

Blowtorch fire

The Grand Rapids Hotel burned to the ground on July 24, 1929, due to a suspicious

blowtorch A blowtorch, also referred to as a blowlamp, is an ambient air fuel-burning gas lamp used for applying flame and heat to various applications, usually metalworking. Early blowtorches used liquid fuel, carried in a refillable reservoir attache ...

incident involving Glenn Goodart. According to newspaper articles, Goodart was alone and accidentally burned the hotel by dropping a blowtorch. At the time, there were suspicions whether the fire was intentional, but Goodart was never prosecuted for

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

. Goodart had only one leg due to a train accident. Shortly after the hotel burned down, the

Wall Street Crash of 1929 The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange colla ...

occurred and the hotel was never rebuilt due to a lack of money caused by the

. Goodart became Finance Commissioner for the City of

, three months after the Grand Rapids Hotel was destroyed.

Present condition of hotel site

The hotel and dam concrete remains are still existing and visible. The front steps of the hotel can be viewed from the river road outside of Mount Carmel, Illinois.

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

The Wabash River Heritage Corridor Commission

City of Mount Carmel Website

Wabash County Chamber of Commerce

''Mount Carmel Register''
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