Many Managers at the C.N.R.

 At a time when railroad travel was the easiest and fastest way to cross the nation, it's no surprise that hotels and restaurants populated the areas around train stations. In Warroad, we have seen several hotels already meant to service train customers. Today, we're looking at yet another hotel in the downtown area: The CNR Hotel. Some of you may be wondering, where is the CNR Hotel? You've all seen it downtown, just under a different name! The side of the building now reads "Russell Hotel," but that's not the beginning of the story. 

That building had much earlier origins. The CN Railroad, then known as Canadian Northern, saw a chance for lucrative business in the twentieth century. To make more money off their railroad service, the CNR opened their own hotels to service tourists at various points along their route. One of those hotels was initially built around 1901 by a Mr. Stein before becoming the site of the Short-Order House, a restaurant and confectionary run by John Clark in 1904. A year later, John Hagen leased the building from Clark with the desire to open his own restaurant. His business venture caught the attention of the railroad.  It would act as a hotel for the CNR, thus transforming Hagen's Restaurant into the CNR Hotel & Restaurant as early as March 1906. The business ran smoothly for many years under Hagen's proprietorship.

C.N.R. Hotel, approx. 1910

In April 1912, Hagen retired to his farm just outside the town and the hotel and restaurant came under the management of Fred Springhorn. Springhorn quickly took charge, overseeing a complete interior and exterior renovation in 1912, including new siding and a steel roof. Unfortunately, these changes would not last. We've mentioned frequently the 1913 fire on Main Avenue. The CNR Hotel, along with all the other buildings on the first block of Main Avenue, burned down in the small hours of the morning in October 1913. The stocks lost on the hotel and confectionary were estimated at $4,500 (current USD: $120,400), and he was insured for $1,200 (current USD: $32,100). Springhorn was quick to begin rebuilding. By the end of the month, plans were already started to rebuild the two-story hotel with brick and modern amenities. By-mid November, construction was well underway and the building was taking shape. 

Remains of the 1913 fire that destroyed the C.N.R. Hotel.

Rebuilt C.N.R. Hotel (arrow identifies the building), 

made with all brick to avoid another catastrophe.

After 1913, news about the hotel goes quiet for a few years. Then, in a surprising twist, Springhorn's name came back up in 1916. In April of that year, the hotel manager was brought before the county court, charged with assault. Springhorn, acting as his own attorney, claimed that two residents of the CNR Hotel had broken a bedspring and refused to pay for the damage. In response, Springhorn allegedly used "various weapons of offense" to extoll the proper payment. The man was sentenced to 30 days in jail or a fine of $20 (current USD: $486). (As a brief anecdote from the case, Springhorn reportedly asked a witness "where was I standing when I was standing in the doorway?")

In his place, Peter Ornes, a man well-known for his work in the hotel business (to be discussed in a later article), took over the CNR alongside Ben Everson. The Lajoie family ran a restaurant next door to the hotel, called the European Restaurant. After about a year,, financial difficulties and tragedy caused no end of trouble for both Ornes and Springhorn. The hotel was leased to the Lajoie's. With this, the European Hotel and Restaurant was born (though the building was still frequently cited in the newspaper as the CNR Hotel). 

Spellcheck was not liberally applied in the early twentieth century.

The family stayed in Warroad less than a year after leasing the hotel, moving away in May 1918. Springhorn once more stepped into the management role of the hotel. However, the Warroad Pioneer was quick to point out that "Mrs. Springhorn will conduct the place while Fred will take care of the farm in Moranville." (WP, 05/16/1918) Most likely a wise decision, seeing as his last tenure as management ended on a less-than-pleasant note...

One again, after a year of management, the Springhorns wanted out of the hotel business. They placed an advertisement in 1919 that they were willing to trade the hotel for a farm property and offered a "paying proposition for someone in position to handle it." (WP, 06/19/1919) A Mr. J. Wagner took them up on their offer and took over management of the hotel in August 1919. He was described as a Dutchman born in New York who "thoroughly understands the game of catering to the wants of the public." (WP, 08/28/1919) He began renovating the hotel almost immediately.

One almost has to wonder about the bad luck in managers that plagued the CNR Hotel. The railroad certainly couldn't seem to manage this hotel in Warroad. It was for the best that in 1922, a Baudette man began looking into purchasing the old hotel. Ed Russell was a businessman from the eastern city, and his business ventures included operating the Rex Hotel in downtown Baudette. Opening another hotel seemed to him a perfect opportunity to expand. The CNR certainly had little scruples about selling out to someone else.

Main Avenue, mid-1920s. Russell's is building #2

Russell saw to a complete overhauling of the restaurant along with renaming it "Russel Hotel" or "Russel's" for short. The walls of the interior and exterior were repainted, the floors cleaned, and every imperfection sealed up. A Mr. and Mrs. James McKeown came from Baudette to be employed at the hotel full-time. In late March 1922, Russell's opened to the public and was described as "one of the best looking restaurants in this part of the state, and will no doubt pick up a share of the business in its line." (WP, 03/23/1922) 

Young people outside Russell's Hotel, late 1930s

For the first time, things seemed to go well for a manager at this old hotel. It even became a place for local doctor, Dr. Klimek, to run his optometrist business once a month. Operation ran relatively smoothly for nearly two decades before Russel's Hotel finally closed its doors. Around 1942, the building was sold to the U.S. Postal Service, making it the shiny new home of the local Post Office in downtown Warroad. The building would then change hands to the Hardwick & Mergens Law Office. Who knows what will happen to it next?

Post office in the old hotel building, 1950s.

116 Main Avenue, July 2021

Did you like this story? Be sure to leave us a comment down below with any stories you have of Russell's! We'll be back soon with another installment in our hotel series!

  ~ Erin Thompson, Museum Manager