Guymon-New Hotel - February 2014

When looking through a group of pictures recently one thing jumped out at me and since it no longer exist after having such a long history of our streetscape I thought we'd visit this location.

The Guymon-New Hotel, or the Guymon House as it's most known by, decorated the north side of the National Road. Every town along the path of the National Road has had many storied hotel, motel and inns.

The Guymon House was built between 1840-50. It was a simple two story, wood framed structure. Like other hotels in town it was used for many Civil War era political events. Local political parties used the hall and upper rooms for meetings.

The Guymon House had a perfectly placed second story balcony that was often used by politicians and others to address the crowds that could gather below.

Like all hotels at the time it too had a tavern. It was advertised locally in the papers "at the sign of the eagle". In 1879, during the Temperance movement, "The Blue Ribbon Reading Association" opened a reading room to offer "pleasant association for the young men" to encourage them to read instead of drinking at the Tavern.

We know from the advertisment that in the 1880's that it was run by Jackson Willis.

On February 5, 1898 and ad in the Daily reporter states that Eblert Bragg was in charge of running the hotel. It states that he "established a new and higher standard for hotels here".

The Guymon House is located to the left in this picture. This picture taken around the turn of the century shows perfectly how people would use the second story balcony and windows to get a better view. This looks like a very interesting parade with the camels and elephants marching the streets.

This is an ad for the Guymon House. Ad came from the late 1880's. I love the old time spelling of "Sqare".

In the early 1900's the Guymon House was distroyed by fire. Shortly after a newer brick stucture was built known as the New Hotel. This building was in use until 2000 when a fire yet again destroyed the property. Over the years the first floor was home to many local stores while the second floor was rented to residents.

This is a photo showing the New building after it was constructed when the Guymon was destroyed by fire. It's the third structure down with the large dome on top. This dome was later removed. Many receptions and parties also took place on the rooftop garden.

Another picture of the New Building. This one taken in the 1920's.

Picture of the New Building which is in the middle of the picture with the dome on top. Judging from the cars this picture came from the 1960's.

This is a picture of the New Building the day after it caught fire in 2000.

Today the lot is currently a parking lot for the Lincoln Square Pancake House. So the next time you park in the lot remember or try to image what the Guymon or the New building would have been in its heyday. Maybe someday another structure will occupy this space.

Greg Roland