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The Grand Rapids Hotel also known as the The Grand Rapids Resort, was a hotel that existed outside of Mount Carmel, Illinois in Wabash County, Illinois, United States in Southern Illinois from 1922 to 1929. The hotel was located on the Wabash River next to the Grand Rapids Dam on land that was originally purchased by Thomas S. Hinde. Before the hotel was built, the property where the hotel was located was a site of a former homestead, and was used by Frederick Hinde Zimmerman for multiple small shops that sold goods to fisherman and tourists. Frederick Hinde Zimmerman was the founder and owner of the hotel, and he completed construction and opened the hotel to the public on August 7, 1922. The hotel had 36 rooms and one large assembly room that served as a dining room, meeting hall, and was used for weddings, exhibitions, anniversaries, and other important occasions. The hotel was one of the first major resorts on the southern portion of the Wabash River and quickly was able to attract tourist from across the country because of its location on the river and ease of access provided by the railroad. During its 9-year existence the hotel established a reputation for luxury and high quality. In later years, after manager Glenn Goodart took over operation of the hotel it gradually began to lose patronage due to incompetent business planning and flooding of the Wabash River in the summers of 1927, 1928, and 1929. On July 29, 1929 Glenn Goodart burned the Grand Rapids Hotel to the ground by dropping a blowtorch in the basement shop. Three months before Goodart burned the hotel down, the United States Senate Committee on Commerce had decided to remove the Grand Rapids Dam by revoking funding. Due to the onset of the Great Depression shortly after the hotel was burned down it was not rebuilt. The same year Goodart burned the hotel down he was elected as Finance Commissioner for Wabash County, Illinois. ==History== The land the hotel was built on was formerly part of a Piankeshaw Indian summer campground. Thomas S. Hinde purchased the property in 1815 from the United States Government and quickly with other Methodist ministers founded the city of Mount Carmel, Illinois. To help entice people to settle in the city Thomas S. Hinde created the Wabash Navigation Company and eventually was able to charter a dam to be built next to the property where the hotel was later built.〔 After the Grand Rapids Dam was completed the dam and Hanging Rock drew large amounts of tourists in the decades that followed. Frederick Hinde Zimmerman, the grandson of Thomas S. Hinde, and the nephew of Captain Charles T. Hinde, built the Grand Rapids Hotel next to the Grand Rapids Dam in 1922. Construction of the hotel began in the early 1920s and was announced as being officially completed on August 2, 1922. According to the article that described the hotel it had 36 rooms, bathing, boating, various other amusements, and was "...one of the greatest resort centers in the Wabash valley." The August 1925 edition of ''Outdoor Recreation Magazine'' described the fishing at Grand Rapids as where the, "...choicest table fish to be found in the river..." are located. Some people claim that gangsters referred to as the Chicago Outfit associated with Al Capone would take the train from Chicago and stay at the hotel. It is not known if the men were smuggling liquor in violation of Prohibition or merely vacationing. Other commentators have suggested that the blowtorch fire started by manager Glenn Goodart may have actually been a cover for an alcohol still explosion in the basement. No matter the cause of the explosion it has been conclusively proven that alcohol was served at the hotel in violation of prohibition.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Grand Rapids Hotel」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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