The Beaumont: Yesterday’s premier hotel

GREEN BAY – The Beaumont Hotel stood on the corner of Main and North Washington Street for a century, but its history goes back to the settlement of a village that has long been swallowed up by the city of Green Bay.

“When Daniel Whitney platted his village of Navarino in 1830 one of his first projects was a hotel which he named the Washington House. He built it on the northeast corner of Washington and Main,” Green Bay Historian Jack Rudolph wrote in 1963.

“Whitney’s Washington House, one of the first hotels in Wisconsin, lasted nearly 25 years. It escaped destruction in the disastrous fire of 1853, which wiped out much of the Washington Street business district, only to go up in flames a year later.

“Most of the time it was owned by the famous Army surgeon Dr. William Beaumont, who bought the property from Whitney in about 1834.”

Beaumont leased the hotel to a string of managers.

When William died in 1853, it was passed down to his son Israel Green “Bud” Beaumont.

After the 1854 building fire, the property sat vacant until 1860.

That year, Israel and his partner/brother-in-law, Alfred Pelton, began construction of a four-story hotel on the property.

The hotel was nearly completed when the Civil War broke out in April 1861.

It opened during the summer of 1864 before construction was completed.

The hotel was not fully completed until 1865.

It was named the “Beaumont House” in memory of Israel’s father.

“Beaumont was a likable and popular man but a bust as a publican. The hotel sank deeper into the red until he was finally forced to borrow $7,500 from his friend Henry Furber, president of the Charter Oak Life Insurance Co. That was a staggering debt in 1876,” Rudolph said.

“Furber took a mortgage on the property, made out to the insurance company, as security. A few years later, when Beaumont was unable to pay, he foreclosed, and Bud lost the hotel.”

In October 1896, Henry Bertram picked up the hotel with plans to build it back even stronger.

In the summer of 1909, work began on a fifth story and an addition on the north side of the building at a cost of about $275,000 — nearly $10 million today.

At completion, the hotel would have 200 guest rooms — 80 of them with connected baths and 80 with a shower bath.

“Every room will have running hot and cold water and will be equipped with a telephone,” a 1909 Press-Gazette article stated.

“The first story of both the old and new parts of the hotel will be pressed brick. One more story will be added to the present part, making it five stories high, and the addition in the rear will be five stories in height.”

Shortly after that, the Bertrams were ready to retire and sold the newly renovated property to Frederic G. Hall.

“A former superintendent of the Harvel railroad chain, Hall gave the Beaumont dining room a national reputation,” Rudolph explained.

“In 1912, Hall brought A.C. Witteborg from Chicago to manage the hotel. When Hall died a few years later, Witteborg formed a group of employees to buy the Beaumont from the estate.”

In January 1963, Beaumont Manager Carl Witteborg, A.C.’s son, announced that the century-old landmark would be torn down to make way for a 100-room motor inn to be affiliated with Parkway Inns.

The hotel held its last night on Feb. 28, 1963.

Demolition of the historic building began the following month.

Officers of the new Beaumont Motor Inn were President/Manager Carl Witteborg; Joseph Whalen and Charles H. Mitchell of Parkway Inns; and Ray Smith Jr.

The Beaumont Motor Inn opened on Aug. 8, 1965.

“Until the Northland (Hotel) was built in 1923-24, the Beaumont was the city’s premier hotel, a distinction it continued to share with the newer house for many years. The celebrities it has entertained and the civic and social events are a story in themselves,” Rudolph said.

“The Beaumont Motor Inn was sold in 1973 to become the Beaumont Ramada Inn, The Days Inn chain took over the business in 1986, at which time the new owners dropped the familiar and historic Beaumont name.”