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Download a Sample Article “Million Dollar Hotel” by Mark Steuer n December 11, 2013, Governor Scott Throughout 2014 and 2015, the restoration of the Hotel North- Walker signed the October Special Session land towards its intended format as a boutique hotel, maneuvered Assembly Bill 4 into law at downtown through a number of setbacks and delays; involving everything Green Bay’s historic Hotel Northland, orig- from tax credits to Department of Housing and Urban Devel- inally dubbed the “Million Dollar Hotel” in opment loans.4 The Hotel Northland is poised to reopen in the its completion year of 1924. Historic pres- Spring of 2017, however, with a restored building and a renewed ervationists and other developers lauded sense of hope for the redevelopment of downtown Green Bay. the fact that doubling state tax credits from 10 percent to 20 percent on historic structures built The Original Hotel Northland, 1924–1972 before 1936 would aid in preserving a number of historic buildings The March 20, 1924 evening edition of the Green Bay Press-Ga- throughout Wisconsin. zette declared in its emblazoned headline to the world that the “The passing of this legislation will revitalize downtown dis- “Northland Holds Formal Opening Friday Evening.”5 Dubbed the tricts across the state,” Walker stated. “Restoring these build- “$1,000,000 Hotel,” a picture of the Hotel Northland graced the ings will create a temporary and permanent economic increase cover, along with eighteen corresponding articles describing all for local and state economies.”1 Rep. Chad Weininger (R-Green manner of detail for this bellwether event. The most elegant hotel Bay) served as the lead assembly bill sponsor, touting the need north of Milwaukee was about to embark on its storied journey. to remain competitive with surrounding states who possessed The “$1,000,000 Hotel” price tag that forever defined the Hotel these types of tax-credit incentives in their tool belts. Roughly 60 Northland 92 years ago, would now, in today’s money, be known percent of U.S. states, in 2013, had credits ranging in the 20 to 25 as the “$13,671,965.31 Hotel,” after adjusting for inflation.6 percent range for commercial restoration projects. What is unique to the reader of this newspaper is that the entire Mentioning widespread public support for the restoration of the front page dealt with the Hotel Northland, and nothing else. There Hotel Northland, Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt stated, “This is is not a word that was written about the deployment of U.S. troops what a real city is about: preserving history, creating something sent to Tegucigalpa, Honduras to quell a rebel uprising. Nor is that’s socially significant and (offers) economic development. there mention of Constitutionalist Winston Churchill’s, elec- This is going to put Green Bay on the map like no other project. tion defeat to Unionist Otho Nicholson in Great Britain. There We’re pleased with what we have here, but creative people, edu- was nary a space to discuss the recently released swashbuckling cated people, look for places like the Northland to host events, to silent film, The Thief of Baghdad, featuring Douglas Fairbanks, have their guests stay, to spend time in the community.”2 nor Nikola Tesla’s announcement describing his success at trans- Jason Stine of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported, “The mitting power without wires. There was no mention either of the historic rehabilitation projects have bipartisan appeal, however, fact that St. Petersburg, Russia was now known as Leningrad fol- because they can draw in well-financed businesses and investors lowing Bolshevik Vladimir Lenin’s recent death. No paragraphs with Republican ties but often are done in urban areas represented described George Gershwin’s debut of “Rhapsody in Blue” in New by Democratic lawmakers.” The lawmakers say the measure will York City or Claydon Sunny’s publishing of the iconic “Happy unlock the potential of historic structures that have not been Birthday to You” ditty. The dismemberment of the once power- renovated because of asbestos, lead paint, outmoded layouts and ful Ottoman Empire into Kemal Ataturk’s Turkey was an after- other challenges associated with their age.”3 thought here. It was all Hotel Northland. Winter / Spring 2017 | 21 Flashing back to 1923 on a local level, Green Bay Press-Gazette trusts, all while championing fights for racial equality; suffrage business manager, Andrew B. Turnbull, was intent on seeking pro- for women; environmental protection; initiatives for agricultural fessional help to gain community support and financial backing groups; Socialist causes and labor unions’ right to strike. for the fledgling Green Bay Packers football team. Turnbull and An avowed pacifist who decried U.S. involvement in the First four colleagues, “called the “Hungry Five,” included grocer Lee World War and eventually the much-ballyhooed Treaty of Ver- Joannes, player-coach Dr. W. Webber Kelly, Curly Lambeau, sailles, as well as the ensuing drive to join the League of Nations, attorney Jerry Clifford, and Turnbull, who laid the foundation for La Follette stood firm on his platforms, only to lose to Repub- the modern Packer corporate structure. They supported Turn- lican Calvin Coolidge in the general election. While Green Bay bull's 1923 stock drive and also set up the Packers as a non-profit was celebrating the opening of the Hotel Northland in March of corporation.”7 1924, La Follette was living out the final year of his celebrated life. Nationally, U.S. Senator and former Wisconsin Governor Robert M. La Follette was embroiled in the 1924 presidential elec- Earlier Green Bay Accommodations tion. Considered to be the leading proponent of progressivism, The Hotel Northland was not, of course, the first lodging site for La Follette railed against the vestiges of corporate power, as evi- visitors to Green Bay. Green Bay had needed accommodations denced in the Teapot Dome scandal, as well as corrupt business from fairly early in its history. Native tribes of Menominee, Ho-Chunk, Sauk, Fox, and Potawatomi, among others, predated European settlement before the 1650s. Subsequent French and British forces controlled the Green Bay area until Fort Howard (1816–1852) was established by American troops of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (“The Old Guard”) on the west shore of the Fox River on August 7, 1816. The stability thus engendered helped to ensure American control over the region and to serve as a safety buffer for the general citizenry. The frontier settlement of Navarino, across the Fox River from Fort Howard, looked to gain further legitimacy when town pioneer Daniel Whitney saw to the construction of the Washing- ton House from 1829 to 1830. Shortly thereafter, wealthy fur mer- chant John Jacob Astor would have the Astor House constructed in 1835 to lure settlers and commercial interests to his competing Town of Astor from near and beyond. These hotels were instru- mental in nurturing the cultural and economic growth of these fledgling towns on the east side of the Fox River. The Astor House, located near the intersection of Mason Neville Public Museum of Brown County, #10.185.30 and Adams Streets, was considered by many to exemplify the Interior view of the Hotel Northland, open to the public for meals and epitome of class, prosperity, civic pride, and culture in the fledg- large business meetings. ling community. This edifice was critiqued by one local resident, Vince Lombardi at the Hotel Northland Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss, in his acclaimed for the puffs of smoke that signaled the election of a new Pope in biography of Vince Lombardi, When Pride Still Mattered, dwelt on Rome. Inside the boardroom, every director had something to say the moments leading up to the hiring of Lombardi as coach, and about the future of the Packers.”20 general manager of the Green Bay Packers on January 28, 1959. Lombardi was the offensive coordinator for the New York He writes: “The board of directors of the Green Bay Packers... Giants, but was an unknown commodity outside of New York, convened...at noon at the Hotel Northland. Their function was especially in Green Bay. Iowa head coach, Forest Evashevski, to approve or deny the decision of the executive committee...The was a leading candidate for the vacant head coaching position. full board met in the Italian Room, a name that caught the atten- Packer icon, Earl “Curly” Lambeau was also considered, amongst tion of one writer. There were seventeen reporters stuck in the a number of others. After much verbal wrangling, Packer pres- makeshift press center, Room 173, lounging on the bed, in the ident, Dominic Olejniczak, announced the hiring of Vincent chairs, sitting cross-legged on the floor, kneeling against the wall, Thomas Lombardi to lead the lowly Packers. resting on an overturned wastebasket, coughing, cracking jokes Lombardi addressed the media and the team’s board of directors and clouding the room with blue smoke as the hours dragged on at a luncheon in the Northland’s Crystal Ballroom on February 3, with no word about a new coach. It was, one said, like waiting 1959, six days after he was named the Packers’ new head coach. 22 | Voyageur who noted, “When the work was actually completed and in all the imposing majority of its three stories and crowning cupola, the Astor House, glistening with fresh white paint stood in the morning sunshine, [was] a beautiful object to the partial eyes of the [town] dweller.”8 Many of Green Bay’s early gala events, including balls, weddings, and banquets took place there. In History of Brown Country, Deborah B. Martin, commented that the Astor House “surpassed the Washington House when it was built and it also proved to have the longer history.
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