10/8/2009:
The Metropolitan Hotel opened to the public in Jamestown on this date in 1884. The Metropolitan was one of the city's first establishments, erected only a year after the Jamestown's incorporation in 1883. Although not the largest hotel in Dakota Territory, the Jamestown Morning Alert reported that "...by those who are qualified to judge...the Metropolitan is the finest hotel in the territory."
Jamestown, serving as both a crossroads between Fargo and Bismarck, and also a repair yard for the Northern Pacific railway, had a steady influx of visitors that required lodging. Early lodging in the city was crude and often operated out of people's homes, but the Metropolitan was to be a modern, lavish enterprise that would serve as a model for the city's growth. This change reflected a larger change in the transformation of the town; the city's earliest visitors were fur-traders and soldiers at nearby Fort Seward, but as time passed, families began to settle the area, and visitors began to include politicians, celebrities, and, most notably, a much higher number of women.
Hotels at this time were not simply places to spend the night, however, but rather centers for the community's social life. Women's clubs held meetings within the hotel parlors, residents met and shared breakfast in the dining rooms, and gossip concerned the area's latest or most notable visitors. The Metropolitan was no different, and served as a focal point for the Jamestown community. To celebrate its opening, a grand party was held, and it was said that nearly every resident in town showed up in their finest for the occasion.
Due to the similarity in name, the hotel was often confused with Fargo's Metropole Hotel, owned by E. E. Cole. The Metropole, located on NP Avenue just off of Broadway, was not built until 1894, but its similarities to the Metropolitan were not lost on visitors to the state. Even the price of staying at both hotels was the same: about two dollars a night. Unfortunately, Jamestown's Metropolitan did not have a long life, and was destroyed by fire, a fate shared by many of Dakota's early hotels.
Dakota Datebook written by Jayme L. Job
Source:
The Jamestown Morning Alert, Thursday, Oct. 9, 1884: p.2.