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Page 154 TAVERNS AND HOTELS
ham McIntyre concluded that there were not sufficient hotels, and
hence on the corner of North Franklin Street and West Long Avenue,
he built a three story wooden building called the Commercial. John
Baker, being of the opinion that McIntyre had too much trade,
secured a lot on North Franklin Street about the corner of an alley,
or 180 feet from West Long Avenue, and erected a three story
building which he called the Baker House. All this land is now
occupied by the B. R. & P. Railroad yards and freight offices.
On North Franklin Street, between the Baker House and
DuBois Street, was a sidewalk erected on posts, and about four feet
above the level of the street along which Sidney Fuller had erected
several tenement houses. The population on North Franklin Street had
become so congested that Pat McGraw decided another hotel was needed
in addition to the Baker House and Commercial Hotel, and on North
Franklin Street, near the Keystone building, he erected a two story
building which he called the "Ridell House," and for which he
secured a license.
Proceeding on West Long Avenue easterly on the left
side of the street was the Ross Grist Mill, which occupied the land
between Franklin Street to Pentz Run. On the south side of the
street were a few stores, and one could not get any refreshment or
entertainment until he got to the corner of North Jared Street and
West Long Avenue where the Gorton House stood. Diagonally across on
South Jared Street and West Long Avenue was another building known
as the "Brunswick Hotel." The north side of West Long Avenue, from
Jared Street to High Street, was largely residential. Tom Harliman
erected a shoe shop near the Dr. Maine residence which seemed to
have created the necessity for a hotel called the Central Hotel on
that side of the street. Passing on up West Long Avenue on the south
side to near the location of the Woolworth Store, an enterprising
individual decided that a tavern was necessary at that point and
they called it the European Hotel. The north side of West Long
Avenue, from High Street to Brady Street was, in the early days
principally occupied by residences until one came to the corner of
North Brady Street; on the south side of West Long Avenue, other
business enterprises were of such importance that the properties
were in demand without a saloon license, and hotels were not needed,
and there was no hotel until one came to the corner of North Brady
Street and East Long Avenue. Here a two story building had been
erected for a dwelling but was enlarged and drawn out in the same
manner that bees make a queen out of a worker, and it evoluted into
a place with four rooms for guests with a livery barn in the rear
and it was called the City Hotel.
On East Long Avenue, near the present Public Library,
an enterprising individual established a restaurant. He was sure
that his place was a necessity, but when a petition was presented to
court some time later for the granting of a promiscuous license at
such a point
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