Lynn Paulson explores Canandaigua’s lodging historical past
6 min readIn addition to the a few largest inns in Canandaigua — i.e., the Canandaigua Hotel/Inn, the Webster House/Pickering Lodge, and the Masseth House/Imperial Hotel — there were a number of scaled-down resorts that existed in the neighborhood.
One particular of the oldest resorts was the Foster setting up that was created in 1796 by Captain Martin Dudley. It was located on the east facet of South Key Road involving what is now Foster and Phelps streets. It had a dance corridor on the best floor in which several folks made use of to go for their sq. dances. The Foster making burned down in 1911.
The Washington Lodge was constructed in 1814 west of the freshly created Ontario County Jail on what was then acknowledged as Jail Road [today’s Ontario Street]. The resort was razed in 1895 to make way for an expanded Ontario County Jail.
In 1815, the Ontario Household was crafted where the previous Masonic Temple making was situated on what was afterwards identified as Court Avenue throughout from the Blossom Resort [later known as the Canandaigua Hotel]. This resort was torn down when the Masonic Temple was erected in 1930.
Two other properties that as soon as housed resorts are nevertheless standing. The Tracy Residence on the east side of South Major Avenue is now the current home of the Gateway Grill [151 S. Main St.]. It was operate by a person named Elisha Gulick, who was a lover of quickly racehorses that have been stabled on Mill Avenue. James Cummings walked a tightrope throughout South Primary Road from the prime floor of the Tracy Household to the top flooring of the Webster Home [later Pickering Hotel] in 1892 at the age of 14. The Tracy House shut in 1899, and because then there have been several shops and proprietors that have occupied the making.
The Lake Breeze House was originally built in 1838 by William Taylor, a retired normal from the War of 1812, at the southernmost element of South Key Avenue [759 S. Main St.]. It became a well known stagecoach inn for various yrs just before and immediately after the Civil War. In the later on 1800s it was renamed the Lake Breeze House and ongoing as a lodge until 1938 when Noble Miller purchased the assets and renamed it Miller’s Inn. Since then, it has been the residence of numerous restaurant institutions like The Colonial Inn, the Steamboat Inn and MacGregor’s. At the moment it is the residence of Murphy’s Law Irish Pub.
In 1900, there ended up 8,000 registered cars in the United States. By 1930, that amount had jumped to an astounding 23 million and by the conclusion of Environment War II in 1945 there ended up above 30 million. America’s enjoy affair with the automobile had truly taken hold. With that, the types of lodging in the United States had also begun to change. Before Planet War II, cabin camps and tourist homes emerged as an alternative to the regular lodges. In addition, cottage courts emerged as an enhancement to cabin camps. These courts ended up typically standardized along a theme and, in contrast to the typical accommodations, have been made to be car welcoming. You could park your auto future to your room or less than a carport and benefit from the filling stations, dining places and cafes positioned close by. In Canandaigua, two these types of courts, Sisson’s Cabin Town and Dibble’s Lake Shore Station and Cabins, existed along what was then referred to as Lake Street [Lakeshore Drive today].
Although tourism experienced a setback throughout Earth War II, it rebounded with a vengeance just after 1945 into the 1950s and 1960s. The significant modify to the lodgings was the rise of the motor court docket. The isolated cottages and cabins ended up changed by integrated structures less than a solitary roof with a streamlined design and style and perfectly-appointed rooms. Air conditioners, televisions, coin-operated radios, tiled bathrooms, simple chairs and fantastic sleepers had been just some of the features available by motor courts. They would shortly be referred to as motels, which was derived from a combination of the words “motor” and “lodge.”
Canandaigua had its share of motor courts/motels, that emerged alongside parts of Lake Street/Lake Shore Boulevard as properly as Routes 5 and 20 and Route 332 in between 1945 and the early 1960s. These included the Blue Gables, the Blue Shutters, Dale’s Mount Vernon, D&J Motel, the Evergreen, the Georgian, Kelloggs, the Lafayette, the Lakeside, the Miami, This Is It Motel, and the Woodbridge.
With the passage of the Federal-Support Highway Act in 1956 that led to the design of lots of interstate highways all through the United States, lots of motor courts/motels commenced to near as these streets frequently by-passed their institutions. Not like this pattern, Canandaigua’s motels have been able to sustain themselves and remained viable as tourist stops into the 1980s and 1990s. Several of them have revamped their institutions into rental housing units. Nonetheless, the heyday of the motor courts/motels was over.
By the 1960s and 1970s, resort chains like the Holiday Inn and the Sheraton had been responding to the tourist motivation for practical accommodations together the new interstate highways. In 1969, Lester Boyce declared that a $2.3 million unit motor inn project would be built at the northern conclude of Canandaigua Lake. With the closing of the Masseth Residence/Imperial Lodge in 1959, the burning of the Webster Home/Pickering Lodge in 1967, and the eventual razing of the Canandaigua Hotel in 1972 the need for a significant hotel facility was considerably required.
The website of the new motor inn would be in what was acknowledged as Atwater Meadows, which was the area frequently encompassing the acreage east and west involving the Metropolis Pier and West Lake Road as effectively as south of the present-day-day Western Boulevard and the State Maritime Park to Canandaigua Lake. Through the 1940s, a few community businessmen [William Muar, Clifford E. Murphy Sr., and Lester Boyce] acquired this land in hopes of potential developments. In the late 1950s, Lester Boyce purchased that portion of Atwater Meadows south of the Point out Maritime Start and east of Sucker Brook from his two partners. On the eastern part of this house, Lester Boyce would construct a marina in a partnership with Dick and Ted Shepard. Shepard Marina [now Sutter’s Marine] with a showroom store and mooring services opened in 1960. On the western portion of this assets, Lester Boyce would construct the newly proposed motor inn that would open in 1970.
The new 120-unit Canandaigua Sheraton Motor Inn involved these functions as a modest marina, out of doors terrace dining, and a restaurant with a cocktail lounge. The A few Fathoms Restaurant and Lounge was adorned with a sailing décor. Inside of the Lounge was a replica of the foredeck of a clipper ship comprehensive with furled sails, rigging and cannon. Ship’s lanterns, murals of seafaring scenes, fishnets and other decorations carried out its nautical theme. A swimming pool, nine-hole putting inexperienced, and sauna baths ended up also part of its amenities. Apparently, at the exact time as the improvement of the new Canandaigua Sheraton Motor Inn was transpiring, the remaining part of Atwater Meadows was being designed into the Holiday getaway Harbour advanced that opened in 1972.
The Sheraton Inn ongoing to function until eventually it was offered to the Sands/Hudson Lodges in 1994. A large enlargement followed in the slide of 1995 and the spring of 1996 and was renamed the Canandaigua Inn on the Lake. The Inn was closed in 2018 and was totally razed to make way for a new improvement termed The Lake Household. When still owned by the Sands family, The Lake Dwelling that opened in 2020 is made up of a principal resort, a Creekside hotel, an occasion bar, casual and great eating alternatives, a pool and sizzling tub, and a spa and wellness heart. A next resort resort located on the northern finish of Canandaigua Lake, the Canandaigua Finger Lakes Vacation resort, is anticipated to open in 2021.
![A photograph of the section of Atwater Meadows on which the Canandaigua Sheraton Inn opened in 1970. The former Shepard Marine [now Sutter's Marine] is located to the east of the Inn.](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2021/06/18/NMP2/7bcf2759-61b7-45a8-a805-a186dd9909d4-Atwater.jpg?width=660&height=530&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
Sites to stay in Canandaigua have gone via really a transition from the times of taverns, tiny motels, regular motels, cottage courts, motor courts/motels to lakeshore resorts.
Lynn Paulsen is the City of Canandaigua historian.
Sources
–Archives of the Ontario County Historical Culture
–Archives of The Everyday Messenger
