414 E. Main
Address: 414 E. Main
Clifton House; Commercial House; Dr. McDannell house; Bank On the site of today’s Huntington Bank, there once was a 3-story brick hotel with a two-story wooden building along the west side. The brick part was constructed about 1868 and became The Clifton House (hotel). Charles Morse was the first proprietor and owner. Captain Shoemaker rented it from Morse for a time in 1871. One of the two village wells with hand pumps was in the street in front of the building. The other well and pump was on the west side of town. The Clifton House Register is housed at the Lowell Area Historical Museum. It’s a cloth covered bound ledger with Clifton House Register on the spine. The beginning 1/3 of the book has unfortunately been used as a scrapbook, but the Hotel Registry for the years 1875-1876 is visible in the back part of the book. The proprietors listed in it were Charles Morse, William Houghtaling and Charles Vanevery. The book tells us that Lowell had lots of entertainment during 1876-the year that the United States celebrated its 100th year of independence. Three traveling groups signed their names in the Clifton House Registry that year-the New Orleans Minstrels, the Tennessee Jubilee Singers and one-half of the Adam Forepaugh Circus (36 members). The Forepaugh Circus was as famous as P. T. Barnum and the Ringling Bros. during the 1870s and 1880s. Forepaugh organized his circus under two tents, one was the big ring production and the other held the menagerie of exotic animals. The circus traveled in specially designed railroad cars. Forepaugh’s son was the elephant trainer and performer. The elder Forepaugh died in the flu epidemic of 1890 and the circus was disbanded. Fisk University in Nashville was the free school for emancipated African Americans (the first all-black university). In 1871, the school, which was housed in the decaying barracks of the Union Army hospital, needed larger and better housing and classrooms. To overcome this crisis, the school’s student choir embarked upon a series of fundraising concert tours. They toured the nation and England singing Negro spirituals and their mainstream sacred songs. An enthusiastic response to their spirituals led them to sing more “slave songs” especially in the North. They stopped in Lowell. Their tours were successful, and a new Victorian Gothic six-story building was built for the campus and dedicated to the Jubilee Singers. In 1881, half of the hotel was moved to the back of the block and used as tenement housing. The remainder of the hotel was known as the Commercial House with Abner Black as Proprietor followed by S. J. Taylor, Proprietor. Drs. Peck and McDannell purchased the Commercial House in 1882. Mrs. S. J. Taylor started a boarding house in it (1883) but wasn’t successful. About 1887, Dr. McDannell demolished the hotel and built a spacious new residence on the site. It was large enough that he could use some of the rooms in the house for his doctor’s office. Dr. McDannell died during the Flu Epidemic of 1918 working right up to his last day of life. After he died, Fred and Julia Hosley purchased the residence. They rented out some of the rooms as “Hosley House Tourist Rooms” especially during Showboat week. Fred had previously owned and operated Hotel Waverly (1911-1918), had a shoe store and later became Lowell’s Postmaster (1936-1945). The Hosley House was razed in 1959 so that the bank could be built in 1960. Images: “The Famous Original Tennessee Jubilee Singers” signed into the Clifton House on September 20, 1876. Thomas Walker was the Manager and Frank Miller was the Advance Agent. The singers performed for two nights at Train’s Hall which was on the 3rd floor of Train’s Opera House (204 W. Main). The Tennessee Jubilee Singers Clifton House, 1870 The Sanborn map, 1885, shows the Commercial House with the well and pump located in the street in front. This card advertises the Adam Forepaugh Circus showing their largest and smallest elephants in 1876. Dr. McDannell house in 1893. |