Heritage \ Writings \

Fraser House "Hotel"
Located on s.e corner of Water street & Center Avenue., Bay City, MI.

Articles:

Apr. 20, 1872: Improvements & additions.

Apr. 20, 1872: Hotel arrivals of Apr. 18th.

Aug. 7, 1884: Fraser House - None Superior in Michigan.

Improvements & additions. Transcribed Feb. 2007.

The Bay City Journal - Sunday - April 20, 1872.

Large Improvements and Additions to be Made.
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Arrangements have been nearly perfected by which the Fraser House will be immediately enlarged in its accommodations and very materially improved in its conveniences. The large hall now occupying the two upper floors of the south side of the block is to be partitioned into rooms to the number of about fifty. These rooms will most of them have very pleasant frontages and scarcely none of them will not be considered first-class. There will be some half dozen suites of elegant apartments when finished and furnished as at present designed. In the roof over the centre of the hall as it now is will be cut a sky-light of about eight by twenty feet in dimensions, which will afford ampule light through the capacious stairways to the second floor.

By means of these improvements that part now used for hotel purposes will be greatly benefitted as the halls will be widened to the old portion and made more pleasant. Each of the halls now running to the rear from the Centre street front will be extended through into the new part and intersect with the hall there which will run at right angles. The entrance on Water street now leading to the hall will be made an entrance to the hotel, and a flight of stairs will ascend from that section of the building to the upper floors. The back stairways leading to the kitchen will also be better arranged, and an additional passage way, well lighted, will greatly improve this part of the house.

Thus, when completed this will be one of the largest and most commodious hotels in northern Michigan, there being one hundred and twenty-five rooms, all of which, besides those required for servants, will be pleasantly located. Mssrs. Patriarche & Co., the proprietors, are displaying a degree of enterprise highly creditable to themselves as well as the city. Since they took the management of this house they have done a very prosperous business and when the improvements spoken of are completed they will be able to do still better. The class of custom is first-class. The traveling public will continue to increase with the growth of the city and its commercial importance, so we may confidently and gladly hope for the proprietors of the Fraser House continued financial prosperity.

Hotel Arrivals. Transcribed Feb 2007.

Bay City Journal - Sunday - April 20, 1872

HOTEL ARRIVALS - April 18
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FRASER HOUSE Geo. B. Kellogg, Utica Henry Baby and wife, E. Saginaw D.G. Holland, E. Sag. J.C. Leaton, do I.A. Hall, Boston J.L. Scath, Toronto M. Lynch, Quebec H.W. Bigelow, Toledo W.A. McGraw, Detroit A.E. Drake, Boston W. Thompson, Detroit S.W. Goodale, Saginaw Geo Lewis, City A.K. Butts, New York W. Inolman, New Jersey W.S. Boon, Do H.G. Blanchard, Det.

CAMPBELL HOUSE J.W. Babcock, Wenona F. Carson, do E.H. Scotts, Carrolton W. Atwood, E. Sag. J. Moiles, do P. McArthur, Toronto J. Donahue, AuSable N. Shaw, Midland C.O. Winnons, Toledo S.E. Wewitt, Detroit F.S. Ackerman, Det. O.O. Burgess, Clev. W. Prentiss, do T.W. Hastings, Salz. G.P. Felcher, Sag. City M. Campbell, Windsor E. Rust, Saginaw J.B. Whitman, E. Sag. J.D. Simpson, Sarnia H. Riley, Meomina

WOLVERTON HOUSE J. DeForest, Rifle River E.C. Carpenter, Rifle Boom John Gruhern, do D.H. McCaster, Saginaw S. McDonald, do P. Riley, do A.J. Ruport, Tawas E.G. Sovereign, Utica J.B. Campbell, Vassar Jas Douglas, do F. O'Donnell, Sag. City H. Dowel, Tawas J. Auburn, E. Sag. Mrs. Saterley, Flint

Fraser House - None Superior in Michigan. - Transcribed Mar 2007.

The Bay City Daily Tribune -- Thursday - August 7, 1884 - E.T. Bennet, editor.

A Hotel With no Superior in Michigan and But Few Equals.
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The Fraser -- A Model and Successful Hotel.
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The New Fraser house, having recently pass into the management of John F. Antisdel, a work in respect to the popular hostelry will not be out of place.

This large handsome and commodious structure, stands as a monument to the memory of him whose name it bears, as one of the best evidence of his enterprising and liberal nature, which he planned but which he did not live to see carried out. It was built during the years 1864-65 at a cost of $90,000, to meet the wants of the traveling community, as well as to place Bay City on an equal footing with the other cities of the state so far as hotel accommodations were concerned. It is a brick building, 100 feet front on Center street and 128 feet on Water street, four stories high with basement, and contains about one hundred rooms for transient guests. The main entrance is on Water street, as are the counting, reading and writing rooms. As originally built, the south 45 feet of the structure was devoted to public amusements, and was for a long time the only place in the city where theatricals and public entertainment could be held. About the time of the completion of the opera house, this portion of the hotel was remodeled, half of the hall being converted into rooms , and the rest into a dining-room, and it is from this fact that the Fraser of to-day has the finest dining-room of any hotel in the state, the ceiling being 22 feet high. When built the hotel was furnished throughout at a cost of $28,000, and in those days (as at the present time) its superior in Michigan was not to be found. C. A. Linsley & Co. had the honor of opening it, and after fifteen months possession was succeeded by Geo. W. Wesley. After that several different parties took hold of the house but it was run for profit on the reputation worked up for it by the first named proprietors.

Until the late T. F. Pickering assumed charge of the Fraser it did not bear a very enviable reputation throughout the country and the city went up among traveling men to give the hotel and city a “wide berth.” The traveling man is an ardent admirer of a good bed, well furnished apartments and a tempting table, so when the Fraser did not afford these requisites, they went elsewhere. For a time, Bay City was almost deserted by the traveling community. They came here during the day, but night invariably found them elsewhere, principally in East Saginaw at the Bancroft. Knowing that the Third city would support a thoroughly first-class hotel, enterprising citizens effected the purchase of the Fraser and after forming the Fraser house company, limited, gave it a thorough rebuilding at a cost of $25,000, leasing it for a term of years to T. F. Pickering, who upon taking possession, refurnished the hotel from floor to garret at an expenditure of $20,000, and upon his death a few months ago, his lease was purchased by Mr. Antisdel, the present proprietor, and it could not have fallen into better hands. Mr. A. is a veteran at the hotel business and has a national reputation. The Newhall house in Milwaukee, which was destroyed by fire, was successfully operated by him from 1874 until the time of its destruction. He has also been identified with the Biddle and Antisdel houses of Detroit, Lakeside cottage, Pewaukee lake, Wis., and the Townsend house, Oconomowoc, Wis., all of which were strictly first-class. The prospects of the Fraser under the new regime are more favorable than when the late Mr. Pickering became its proprietor. The latter gentleman placed it upon an enviable footing and was just beginning to reap the rewards of his energy and enterprise, when death romoved him from this field of labor. The city is now the objective point of speculators, lumber buyers and commercial travelers, and the accommodations afforded by the Fraser are accepted by them. This really dull season has seen more guests at the Fraser than either of the two previous, showing to a considerable degree that the reputation of the house is going abroad, and those who formerly gave Bay City the “go by” now stop here. A daily registration of from 75 to 125 transients is nothing unusual for the hotel.

Under the administration of Mr. Pickering the tables were excellently furnished, the best of help being employed in the cooking department, and in this respect won for the hotel a reputation that is now being sustained by the veteran host, John F. Antisdel. The rooms are conveniently arranged, and elaborately and uniformly furnished throughout the building. In the fourth story, as in the lower rooms, one naturally feels comfortable and contented, from the cozy surroundings and the homelike appearance of the apartments. An elevator removes the tiresome walk up stairs.

Under the proprietorship of Mr. Antisdel, some changes have been made in the attaches. George R. Haviland of Ann Arbor, a gentleman who has been associated with Mr. Antisdel for about 20 years, presides behind the counter and attends to the wants of the traveling public. He is thoroughly acquainted with the hotel business and has a wide acquaintance among the traveling fraternity who unite in pronouncing him “a good person for a stranger to get acquainted with.” Having made the traveler a life study, he knows his wants and how to fulfill them.

Robert L. Dickey, clerk, who made so many warm friends during his stay here with Mr. Pickering, is retained by Mr. Antisdel, as is A. F. Tennant, steward. Both are genial gentlemen and in their respective positions cannot fail to assist in keeping up the good name of the Fraser.

The efforts of the management to provide Bay City with a hotel in every sense of the word, is duly appreciated by the citizens, as is attested by the large number who daily partake of the Fraser’s bountiful board.