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Wooden arch from Duluth’s Spalding Hotel now in St. Paul at O’Gara’s at the Fair

By on Sep 7, 2010 in History, Photos

I didn’t ask around, with the crowd as thick as it was, but I’m assuming this big wooden arch must be the one from the Spalding Hotel that was retrofitted into O’Gara’s fairgrounds restaurant in St. Paul.

The Duluth News Tribune reported two weeks ago that Danny and Kris O’Gara somehow acquired an old arch from the Spalding for their new restaurant.

Here’s an old postcard image of the Spalding:

The Spalding was a seven-story, 200-room hotel located at 428 W. Superior St., which is where the Ordean Building and an outdoor garden are today.

* Designed by James J. Egan of Chicago
* Opened June 6, 1889
* Owned by William W. Spalding
* Demolished Sept. 25, 1963

8 Comment(s)

  1. How do you find out about all these historical factoids?

    Bad Cat! | Sep 7, 2010 | New Comment

  2. Duluth Public Library, baybeeee!

    Paul Lundgren | Sep 7, 2010 | New Comment

  3. The Spirit Valley Branch?

    The Friendly Old Knifey | Sep 7, 2010 | New Comment

  4. Knifey, you are generally so friendly that it’s a shame I’ll have to punch you in the face the next time I see you.

    Paul Lundgren | Sep 7, 2010 | New Comment

  5. The Spalding Hotel is one of the biggest losses to the downtown. I wonder what condition it was in when they tore it down. It was a pretty seedy part of town by that point, but it seems like they just arbitrarily razed the whole area.

    Karasu | Sep 8, 2010 | New Comment

  6. From Pen and Sunlight Sketches of Duluth, Superior and Ashland, Phoenix Publishing Co., 1892:

    The Spalding is not only the leading hotel of Duluth, but ranks well up by the side of the great hotels of America. It was built for the future and will hold its own when Duluth expands to the greatness she is sure to achieve. Three years ago it was erected and cost complete in the neighborhood of one million dollars. Every modern invention that the art and ingenuity of man has devised for the comfort and convenience of mankind is part and parcel of its construction. The spacious rotunda, the beautiful and artistic parlors, the richly furnished rooms, in fact everything in connection with it is as fine and complete as if it were to do service in the center of New York City. It would be criminal not to particularly mention the Spalding dining room. It is the all-surpassing feature of the house. It is striking in three ways: for its own artisticness, for the sumptuous table it affords, and for its famous and unparalleled view. It is upon the eighth floor, and the hotel being built nearly upon the shore of Lake Superior, from the windows of this dining room can be seen the great harbor below, dotted with its busy navy of ships, yachts, steamers and tugs, while far away, till the eye stops only with the horizon, can be seen the great endless lake as restless and grand as the ocean. Old travelers say that no other public dining room in the old world or the new affords a view so magnificent. Mr. E. P. Emerson, the proprietor, is too well known throughout the hotel world of the United States for his strict adherence to the first class in everything, to call for commendation, and on account of Duluth’s matchless summer climate, under his admirable management the Spalding is rapidly becoming a mecca for summer tourists.

    Paul Lundgren | Sep 23, 2010 | New Comment

  7. “You’re under arrest!”

    “What for?”

    “Not mentioning the Spalding dining room in your article.”

    The Friendly Old Knifey | Sep 23, 2010 | New Comment

  8. It is indeed an arch from the Spalding Hotel (or an exact replica) -- photo here:

    A look inside the long-lost Spalding Hotel

    How they got a hold of it, I have no idea.

    Andrew | Sep 27, 2010 | New Comment

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  1. Sep 27, 2010: from A look inside the long-lost Spalding Hotel | News Tribune Attic

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