Battle Creek House Hotel, c. 1860.

dc.coverage.temporal	Battle Creek. Michigan, circa 1860	en_US
dc.identifier.other	LPC-027-008-001	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://dspace.willardlibrary.org/xmlui/handle/123456789/13534
dc.description	Postcard showing a drawing of the Battle Creek House hotel at 2 West Main Street (now West Michigan Avenue). The hotel and stagecoach stop stood on this corner from 1836-1866. It was destroyed by fire in 1866. It was replaced by the Riley Block, which still stands in 2010. Anson De Puy Van Buren described the Battle Creek house in 1908 thus: Tell me what the amusement of a people is and I will tell you the character of that people. The old Battle Creek house afforded many an opportunity to read the character and spirit of its people during these early days. The pioneer townsmen were wont to meet in its hall and trip the light fantastic toe. Here, on winter evenings, I have seen the first citizens of the young village, then not half way to her teens, often with invited guests from Marshall and Kalamazoo, beguiling the old gray-beard of his pinions, in dance and merriment, till the wee sma' hours ayant the twal. Colonel John Stewart, Capt. John Marvin, Drs. William M. Campbell and Ashel Beach, Alonzo Noble, and other leading citizens, would take their places on the floor as their numbers were called, bow to their ladies, and the dance would begin. The old Battle Creek house was the hospitable Mecca to which the stagecoach, the teamster and traveler resorted. It was near midway on the old territorial road between Detroit and Chicago, and from it a line of stages went to and from Grand Rapids. For many years the town meetings were held in it, and beneath its hospitable roof the first democratic and whig battles of the township were decided. Caption on front: Battle Creek House Corner of Main & Jefferson Streets Campbell & Wood Proprietors.	en_US
dc.format.medium	b&w postcard	en_US
dc.language.iso	En	en_US
dc.subject	Hotels and Taverns - Battle Creek House	en_US
dc.subject	Campbell, Charles.	en_US
dc.subject	Beach, Ashel.	en_US
dc.subject	Noble, Alonzo.	en_US
dc.subject	Van Buren, Anson De Puy.	en_US
dc.subject	People	en_US
dc.title	Battle Creek House Hotel, c. 1860.	en_US
dc.type	Image	en_US