Ren's Wayback, The Southern Pacific Hotel, Ontario Ca. 1887-1897

 

This grand building, called the Brooks Block, was also named the Southern Pacific Hotel by its owner, W. H. Brooks and overlooked the Southern Pacific railroad. Brooks purchased the land for $1500.00 and constru...ction began in late 1887 using materials purchased from W. J. Waddingham’s lumber yard. The architect was David Kilpatrick, who reportedly later designed buildings in the unique mountainside town of Jerome, Arizona. Brooks supposedly spent $60,000 developing his block which took several years to complete. It included six store rooms on the ground floor, a dining hall, a bank, a billiard hall, and a “commodious” kitchen. The second and third floors contained 70 hotel rooms as well as parlors, reception areas, six bathrooms, and sixteen water closets. While the building was quite extravagant and often compared to the splendid buildings of the time of San Bernardino and Pasadena, Mr. Brooks apparently ran into financial trouble and was sued by Mr. Waddingham in 1889, claiming he was never paid for the building materials. The building was later up for sale for $60,000, represented by Charles Frankish, who stated in a March 1890 letter that the hotel had never been furnished and was not quite finished. The hotel was up and running by 1894 and an Ontario Observer article from January 1896 announced that the hotel was being managed by Mr. Albert Schreiber of Germany, and rooms in the first class hotel were available between $2.00 and $2.50 per day. Unfortunately, this grand building was plagued by fire early in the morning on December 3, 1897, destroying the entire structure. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the blaze. The site of this building later became the Ontario Country Club, built in 1903, which in 1910 was purchased by the city to serve as its city hall. The country club was later demolished and a new city hall was built on the site in the late 1930s, which is now the Ontario Museum of History and Art.