THE BLUEBIRD HOTEL
Just imagine, the year is 1904, and you are sitting on a porch
that extends nearly the length of a three story hotel overlooking the
Rock River. From the wide porch toward the southwest there is a
beautiful view of Van Arnam's Island, the bridge, and Dixon on the
bluffs beyond.
The Assembly Park Hotel, built in 1891, was part of the Rock
River Assembly, where each summer thousands attended the Chautauqua
meetings. The three-storied hotel, 110' by 70' in size contained an
office, kitchen, dining room, reading room, barber shop, parlors, bed
chambers, and toilet rooms. Around the hotel were four large porches
15 feet wide that could be used by patrons and entered from both the
first and second floors. Visitors from near and far along with many
of the local residents of Dixon made frequent visits to the hotel and
enjoyed the view and atmosphere along with the tasty meals which were
prepared.
Shortly after the turn of the century you could arrive at the
hotel by street car from Dixon's south side, the car stopping on east
Fellows Street just a short distance from the hotel or perhaps you
came from Sterling on the inter-urban, the much traveled
Sterling-Dixon & Eastern Railway. But as tradition goes, many
still used the horse and buggy for getting there.
Thomas Young leased the hotel in 1891 shortly after it was built
and continued managing it for a number of years. He had been the
former manager of the Nachusa House and was well regarded for his
ability to make his guests most comfortable.
In 1909 Mr. Young started to make extensive improvements in the
hotel. The dining room on the east side of the building now measured
75 feet by 35 feet and could now easily accommodate 200 guests. On
the west portion, which measured slightly larger than the dining
room, were the kitchen, pastry, and laundry rooms.
A large store room and linen room were added to handle the 1,000
pillows slips, 1,000 sheets, 1,500 linen napkins, and 1,000 towels
for the guests. Along with the 125 new iron beds which had been
installed in the sleeping rooms the hotel was billed as the best
equipped in northern Illinois. The laundry room contained a 5 horse
power Bradford gasoline engine to run the clothes washing machine, a
gas mangle which did all the ironing for the hotel, and a Garris
Cororan dish washer which could wash dishes for 1,000 guests at one
time. In addition hot water tanks were installed.
The hotel's kitchen, the most modern found anywhere, now
contained a 12 foot range with two fires and three large ovens plus
an additional bake oven where 50 pies could be baked, all at once.
Additionally there was an ice crushing machine, a modern day large
refrigerator, and a rotary bread slicing machine.
An annex was also added whereby 125 people could be seated and
served lunch, ice cream, or just a cold glass of lemonade. An
interesting item in the annex was a 20 gallon silver coffee urn. It
had been used by the Chase and Sanborn Company to serve coffee at the
World's Fair and was then presented to Mr. Young, he being one of
their largest and oldest customers.
The hotel rooms were also redecorated with colors of light blue
on the walls and matching woodwork. The outside of the hotel was a
light tan and it was reported that it made a very nice appearance. To
handle the large numbers of people who attended the Chautauqua
meetings and stayed or ate at the hotel, Mr. Young employed a staff
of 55 people.
By the 1920's the Chautauqua meetings were seeing a decline in
attendance, however the hotel was still open each summer serving
meals and entertaining the guests that were still traveling to this
area to visit the renown hotel. It was on April 20, 1922 that the
Assembly Park Hotel had its name changed to the "Bluebird, the Home
of Happiness" by Mr. & Mrs. C.M. Long which were the new
proprietors of the hotel. Business increased slightly with the new
ownership for some years, but the 1930's brought the eventual closing
of the Bluebird and it then fell into disrepair until the Assembly
Park area was developed as a residential area. The hotel was then
torn down to make way for new homes.
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