The Hotel Boom

Location: Saugatuck and Douglas
Date: 1890s-1920s

CORAL GABLES (at times known as the Saugatuck Hotel, Leindecker Hotel, and Columbia Hotel)
220 Water Street, Saugatuck, 1901-1906
This hotel and restaurant/bar has gone by many names but for nearly a half-century has been called Coral Gables. It is an Arts & Crafts building built by the Leindecker family of Chicago, and in its early years the hotel was well known for its German orchestra. Hotel guests were transferred to the beach by steam-powered water taxis. It has been, over the years, a popular Saugatuck hot spot—particularly during the years of summer invasions by college kids from all over the Midwest.

THE POKAGON INN
Oval Beach Road at Park Street, Saugatuck, 1899
The Pokagon was Saugatuck’s first large hotel, named for the Michigan Indian Chief who claimed to be a friend of President Lincoln and who gave an address at the great World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago. This large hotel had a dance pavilion at the water’s edge and was packing 125 persons a night into its hotel rooms. It offered numerous parlors, a smoking room and “bell service in every room.” The hotel’s backer was E. S. Perryman, a Texan. The inn was destroyed by fire in 1902 and replaced by the smaller Beachway Hotel, which still exists on the site.

THE MAPLEWOOD HOTEL
428 Butler Street. Saugatuck, 1900
Once used for retail and manufacturing purposes, this structure was recycled in 1900 as the Maplewood, one of Saugatuck’s favorite hotels. An imposing new classical Colonial Revival façade was added in 1923 by local summer resident and Chicago architect, George W. Maher.

IDYLEASE / VALENTINE LODGE
653 Campbell Road, Douglas, 1906
Captain John Campbell was a local ship’s captain. His new three-story hotel boasted 27 sleeping rooms, a dining room, and a nearby cottage—all set amid a picturesque orchard.

THE BUTLER HOTEL
Butler Street at the waterfront, Saugatuck, 1901
Once a village flourmill, the old building was recycled in 1898 as the Butler, a gleaming white hotel with a wrap-around porch, manicured lawns, and a graceful entrance. It was located a few yards away from the Big Pavilion dance hall and movie theater, and at the turnaround for the Interurban train. The current structure has been radically altered.

THE SHIP ‘N SHORE (also known as the Tourist Home Hotel / Mount Baldhead Hotel)
528 Water Street, Saugatuck, 1901

The Tourist Home Hotel was cobbled together from parts of the Iron Clad Basket factory, a former blacksmith shop, and an old warehouse from the lighthouse area—with porches and gardens added. It had a large dance floor, and at one time it advertised “Gentiles Only.” Later known as the Mount Baldhead Hotel, it was destroyed by fire in 1959 and replaced by the very fashionable and modern ‘Ship ‘n Shore Motel-Boatel,’ a drive in hotel for both boats and automobiles.
For additional hotel/boarding house/B&B establishments see the book Raising the Roof, the History of Buildings and Architecture of the Saugatuck and Douglas Area (examination copy available in this room).