By Cindy Inkrote
For The Daily Item
—
Riding on the coattails of the fame and glory the City Hotel gained after Thomas Edison’s successful electrical experiment in 1883, the owners, the enterprising Drumheller brothers, decided to build another hotel a few years later. They designed their next venture to serve a more pleasure-oriented clientele than the business travelers who stayed at their hotel in the heart of Sunbury.
Perched on the crest of Blue Hill, Hotel Shikellimy was designed to capitalize on the spectacular view of the Susquehanna River, its confluence and nearby Sunbury and Northumberland. After an initial delay in negotiating the acquisition of the property, the brothers purchased 40 acres on top the hill and the impressive three-story frame building was begun during the summer of 1890. The construction attracted many visitors to the site as the building progressed. By December, the shell of the building was completed and the well had been dug.
The interior of the hotel was beautifully appointed, and the Drumheller brothers hired a skilled and experienced chef to prepare fine cuisine for guests and the many parties and banquets held at the resort. The Drumhellers trained their staff to attend to the needs of the hotel’s guests. The 145-foot by 125-foot structure had three gabled roofs and large porches. Inside on the first floor were an elegant ballroom, a billiard room, a bowling alley, a smoking room, a writing room and a reception room for the ladies. The resort cost about $50,000 to build and furnish. Guest rooms flanked wide hallways and, interestingly, gas lights rather than electric lighted the entire structure.
Marketed as a summer resort by the Drumheller brothers, the hotel, which was located about 500 feet above the Susquehanna’s waters, opened in 1891. Guests came by steamboat and railroad to relax and enjoy the splendid view. It quickly became a popular spot attracting tourists from outside the area. At the time, summer vacationers usually visited water attractions or the mountains, and the Hotel Shikellimy offered both. The view lured many fashionably attired gentlemen and their ladies with Gibson girl hairstyles and long, sweeping skirts to the hotel. It also served as the site of many reunions, business functions and annual meetings for various local organizations.
The Hotel Shikellimy had a short life unlike its sister, the City Hotel, now the Edison Hotel. On May 4, 1898, as the hotel was being prepared to open for the summer, a tragic fire erupted on the first floor. The hotel was destroyed before firefighters made their way to the site. Hundreds of spectators watched the disastrous blaze from rooftops and the river bank in Sunbury. All of the hotel’s outbuildings, including the ice house and the woods which surrounded the structure, caught fire as well. The structure was insured for just $19,000 and was never rebuilt.
-- “Once Upon A Time In ....” is a Monday feature provided by the historical societies in Montour, Northumberland, Snyder and Union counties. The columns focus on people, places and objects of historical significance. Cindy Inkrote is director of the Northumberland County Historical Society. The society’s Genealogical Library and Historical Research Center is at 1150 N. Front St., Sunbury. For information, call 286-4083 or visit www.northumberlandcountyhistoricalsociety.org.
