302 W. Main
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Train’s Hotel/Waverly Hotel/Hotel Waverly/Hotel Lowell
302 West Main The parking lot east of the Shell station was once filled with the hustle and bustle of a large hotel. Tourists would arrive in horse-drawn taxis from the Grand Trunk Railroad depot across the Grand River in Segwun. The Pere Marquette (later C&O) depot on S. Hudson wasn’t built until 1900. In 1881, J. C. Train began hauling and piling bricks preparing to build a three-story hotel, to be 100 feet deep and 66 feet across the front. Train’s Hotel was finally completed and opened on May 21, 1884. It contained three store fronts; one for hotel purposes and two for businesses. The hotel had a dining room and office on the 1st floor, a saloon in the basement and rooms upstairs. In 1888, J. C. and Mrs. Train retired as proprietors. J. McKee took over and his major improvement was to fresco the hotel office. Fresco is a technique of mural painting done upon freshly laid “wet” lime plaster. Water is put into the dry -powder pigment and the color merges with the plaster so that when the plaster sets, the color is permanently in the plaster wall. A fire in the kitchen in 1894 was quickly repaired. In September 1895, J. C. Train turned the keys over to new proprietors Myers & Hiliker, and in March 1896, to R. W. “Bob” Swayzee and Mrs. Swayzee. The Swayzees renamed the hotel to the Waverly Hotel. Bob was in the liquor business in Lowell prior to running The Waverly. The Swayzees were well-liked hosts. They had a brick refrigeration room built onto the kitchen at the southeast corner of the building during their tenure- a new concept. In 1911, Davarn & Hosley became the proprietors and renamed the hotel to Hotel Waverly. They replaced the wooden portions of the building in front with brick work. Davarn sold his interest in the Waverly in 1915 and purchased an elevator in Pewamo, the town of his birth. Fred J. Hosley continued as proprietor through 1917. The next proprietors were J. J. Brezina and his wife Mary (1918-1919). Unfortunately, Mary died at age 50 in 1919 during the Spanish Flu Epidemic and John could not handle the hotel business without her since their sons were away in WWI. Louis Krieger and Patrick Welch were employed as bar tenders. The proprietors who followed at Hotel Waverly were M. H. Vanderhoof in 1920; Peter Vry; Louis Harmon (famous for serving cafeteria-style meals); and then in 1928, Harry Holland. Holland changed the hotel name to Hotel Lowell. Holland’s establishment was once raided by the authorities during prohibition; they found and confiscated one gallon of whiskey. He was fined. In 1930, Holland advertised that he had 40 rooms, some with running water in the rooms, and a 24-hour a day coffee shop. The London Bros. from Grand Rapids took possession in 1931. They remodeled the 2nd and 3rd floors. In 1937, Postmaster Hosley moved the Lowell Post Office from the old building in the center of the Main Street bridge to this location where it remained until the completion of the current post office on N. Broadway. Sometime between 1938 and 1943, the upper two floors were removed so that the building was only one story. The single story was condemned and demolished in 1984 to make way for a city parking lot. Images: Hotel Waverly prior to 1917. Postcard, 1930. Davarn & Hosley Mail Order Department was in the western storefront. Horse-pulled taxis are lined up in front of Hotel Waverly. One is driven by Harry Watters who had a Bus and Taxi Service. This Letter was written on Hotel Waverly stationery, J. J. Brezina, Proprietor, by Mary Brezina to her two sons, Herbert and Oscar, during WWI. It is dated December 22, 1918. “Things are adjusting themselves so we can have all the sugar and flour and we can serve two kinds of meat to one person if they wish it so it will be easier to cook. Eggs are very High and scarce 70c a dozen. ..” Normally they cook 50 to 52 dinners but all the road men went home for Christmas. Hotel Waverly |
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