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Powers Inn
Watertown Inn
Elias Inn Supper Club
200 North Second
Built in 1933 (1953 city assessor notation)
1923
10 15 WATERTOWN
WILL HAVE LARGE, NEW, MODERN HOTEL
Watertown. Wis. -- A five story modern hotel, one block from Main street, will be added to Watertown's downtown section and work on the structure, which will be the tallest in the city, will begin before winter, it was announced by J. S. Miller and M. E. Blumenfeld of Madison, who were in the city conferring with Watertown business men regarding the project.
The project is backed by the Wisconsin Hotel company and Watertown will not be asked to subscribe stock or bonds or give a single penny toward the building of the hotel.
The hotel, which is to be known as the Hotel Watertown, will be erected on North Second street, directly across from the post office on the property now owned by the widow of the late Dr. Carl R. Feld, formerly city health commissioner here. It will contain eighty-eight rooms and consist of five stories and basement. It will be constructed of Watertown brick and as far as possible will be built by home labor.
The site for the hotel is one of the best in the city. It gives ample space for the parking of automobiles and is centrally located. While off the main business streets it will be a quiet place as far as streetcar traffic concerned and will be doubly comfortable for patrons. Wire story article of 10 15 1923
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NEW HOTEL FOR WATERTOWN
WDTimes, 10 15 1923
Badger Hotel Co. Back of Project for Watertown
A new hotel is assured Watertown and work on its construction will begin
this fall, according to J. S. Miller of Madison, member of the J. S. Miller
Realty Co., and M. F. Blumenfeld of Madison, who were in the city today
conferring with Watertown business men in connection with the plans for its
construction.
The project is backed by the Wisconsin Hotel company and the projectors
claim that no better site for a first-class hotel exists in southern Wisconsin
than Watertown, which with its fine railroad facilities and newly constructed
state trunk highways in the center of a vase and rich country.
Mr. Blumenfeld has given the project attention for the past eighteen
months and it is in great measure due to his efforts that Watertown was
selected for the site of this hotel.
The hotel will be erected on the property owned by Mrs. Bertha Feld on the northwest corner of North
Second Street where it
intersects Madison Street, and will be 66 ˝ x 108 feet in
dimension. It will contain 88 rooms and
be constructed of Watertown brick with Bedford stone trimmings and will be
strictly modern throughout, consisting of five stories and a basement.
It will be known as Hotel Watertown, and the preliminary blue prints
together with a sketch were shown today at the office of C. R. Blumenfeld.
The work of building, according to Mr. Miller, will start this fall and
will be pushed to rapid completion.
Watertown labor and materials will be used wherever it is possible to
obtain them.
The hotel is being financed by the Badger Hotel Co. and Watertown will
not be asked to subscribe stock or bonds unless they wish to do so, it is said.
The site selected will give adequate facilities for the parking of cars
and allowance of daylight from all sided of the hotel.
When the final blue prints are made a cut of the new structure together
with detailed plans for the building will be published.
02 13 1924 WDTimes
REPRESENTATIVE SAYS NEW HOTEL
HERE IS ASSURED
Asked to confirm the report that there was a revival of the hotel project
as outlined to the local public last fall, Attorney Chas. R. Blumenfeld this
morning stated:
''There is no revival of the project, for the reason that things have
been going right along with the proposition and it is more than a project — it
is a decided fact. The delay in
announcing a definite time to commence building operations has been due to the
drawing up of plans, specifications and other details, but the building of an
up-to-date hotel in Watertown is an assured fact. No one in the city will be asked to donate
towards the building. Of course it is
desirous that local people give their moral support and I expect that if they
wish to buy stock in the enterprise they may do so, but the corporation which
has retained me to handle the matter here is amply able to carry out its
plans. It is in the hotel business and
the venture here is one of three hotels to be built by the company during the
ensuing spring and summer. One will be
erected.in West Allis, one in Kenosha and the third in Watertown. Plans and specifications of the new building
are expected to arrive here today.”
09 20 1924 WDTimes
ADVERTISE FOR BIDS TO ERECT NEW
WATERTOWN HOTEL
That Watertown’s modern hotel will be an accomplished fact within another
year seems apparent according to an advertisement calling for bids for the
construction of such a building, in another column of today’s paper.
The Badger Hotel company is behind the proposition and B. E. Buckman Co.
of Madison, it is stated, will finance it.
A representative of the Buckman Co. said this morning: “The company would like to get started on the construction work
not later than October 15 and have the building finished not later than the
first of June, 1925.
The site of the hotel
has not been finally determined, abstracts of several properties being
now in the hands of attorneys investigating the titles. The building will cost, it is estimated,
$275,000 and it will be called the Badger Hotel.
I'm going though the archives at work (Maas Brothers)
and found this plan and specifications from 1923 for a very fancy 5-story hotel
here in town that was never built, but was slated to be constructed on the
northwest corner of Madison & Second. Within a decade, we built the Powers
Inn (now Elias Inn) on that corner instead. The owner for the hotel project is
listed as "The Badger Hotel Company" and it appears they were from
Watertown, but I can't confirm that. I know it's a longshot since nobody alive
would have direct knowledge of this proposed project, but curious if anybody
out there may have heard of this and know anything more about it?
c.1933: Watertown Inn
Powers Inn, Elias
Ck AIH records and my
architectural spiral
Building of in c.1933 was a Maas Bros project.
1935
07 11 NEW
TAVERN TO BE OPENED BY POWERS AT PIPERSVILLE SOON
Watertown's famous Powers
Inn will have a "kid sister" establishment at Pipersville within
a week, Ray Powers announced here yesterday.
The new tavern, which will also bear the Powers name, famous as a
hostelry and bar, will occupy the same building as that known to the
Pipersville community for some time.
Extensive modernization and
considerable redecorating has been necessary, delaying the opening of the new
place a week, as it was originally scheduled to open last Sunday. Among the many improvements and changes will
be a new and attractive barroom and a commodious dance floor. The Pipersville place will feature the same
type of drinks and lunches as are now being served at the attractive Watertown
Inn, which weekly attracts hundreds of out-of-town visitors to the city.
A feature recently introduced to the Powers Inn on Sunday nights is the weekly "Community Sing", in which guests of the Inn are invited to participate with the orchestra in popular and old time singing. This feature of entertainment will be officially inaugurated Saturday night. Souvenir books of songs will be distributed to all patrons. Watertown Tribune, 07 11 1935
1953
03 20 POWERS INN / ASSESSOR PHOTO
Powers Inn / John Powers
1950s
FAIR DAY Held on N Second St. in area of
Memorial Park and Powers Inn
< Powers Inn in background
1975
2022
05 03 NEW OWNERS REOPEN ELIAS
Lydia and Mike Sobol
Using an RDA loan and grant to bring the electrical and plumbing up to code, the Sobol’s saved enough of their own funds to completely gut the kitchen down to the studs. Walls were redone, new stainless was put in, all the equipment is new. WDTimes article
Cross reference:
History of Watertown, Wisconsin