By Mona Lange McCroskey
There is a document hanging on the wall at the Hassayampa Inn that is probably not even noticed by most of today's guests. However, without those individuals and businesses named on the "Contributors to the Hotel" list, the Hassayampa would not be a reality. From 1920, until it opened in 1927, there were concerted efforts, led by Yavapai County Chamber of Commerce Secretary Grace M. Sparkes to finance the building of a community-owned hotel. The budding tourism industry in this country and the need for accommodations for business and mining men who visited Prescott prompted the formation of The Hassayampa Hotel Company in 1920. The concept of a community-built hotel was popular at that time, and in Arizona the Gadsden in Douglas and the Copper Queen in Bisbee were already flourishing. On the board of directors of the Hassayampa Hotel Company were Francis S. Viele, LeRoy Anderson, Harry W. Heap, M.B. Hazeltine, O.J. Faulkner, Dr. J.W. Flinn, James Whetstine, and C.C. Miller, Jr.
Sparkes prepared a promotional booklet for the proposed hotel and conducted a tireless letter-writing campaign, sending out newspaper articles and pamphlets to potential investors. She noted that "Prescott is the county seat; the banking, commercial and business and social center for the county." She compiled statistics and claimed the population was 6,500 to 10,000, perhaps inflated for her purposes. Prescott's amenities included Santa Fe Railroad access, highway connections to the Grand Canyon, a road to Phoenix then under construction, and utilities, paving, and streetlights. Sparkes argued that another first-rate hotel was needed to host the many visitors who were attracted to Prescott by its "contrived attractions, " emphasizing the local heritage and seeking to capitalize on the romantic cowboys and Indians myth of the Old West. She widely publicized the local dude ranches, Prescott Frontier Days, and the Smoki Ceremonials.
In 1923, the Owl Drug and Candy Company proposed remodeling its building on the corner of Gurley and Montezuma into a hotel to meet Prescott's "greatest need." However, fund-raising efforts lagged and it wasn't until 1925, that the Kiwanis Club formed a finance committee to raise money for building the Hassayampa Inn. Mayor Morris Goldwater proclaimed June 25, 1925, "Hotel Day" and urged citizens to invest in stock. The boosters' goal was to raise $20,000 in one day. Businessmen and merchants advertised in The Prescott Courier for a month in advance, extolling the benefits of a "modern, first class hotel to which people of wealth would be attracted."
As June 25th dawned, volunteers manned a booth on the plaza while others conducted a house-to-house appeal for funds. A drum and bugle corps attracted attention to the booth and the painted level on a 200-foot thermometer rose as investors were recruited. At each $1,000 level a cannon was fired, whistles blown, and the fire bell rang. An evening parade celebrated, prematurely, the fact that enough funds had been raised to build the hotel and that the "long-needed tourist hostelry is to be ready for occupancy next summer." In fact only $130,000 of the $150,000 needed to begin construction had been raised. Capitalization efforts continued. The populace was advised that their businesses would prosper and rental values would rise with the addition of the hotel. In perfect Sparkes hyperbole, they were reminded that there was heavy Grand Canyon tourist travel to the north and Prescott, "in the center of Arizona's scenic wonderland," was obligated to provide suitable accommodations. On February 28, 1927, when ground was finally broken for the hotel, over 450 local investors had subscribed a total of $200,000.
Prescott architect Chris Totten worked with Henry Trost in drafting plans for the new hotel. Trost was well known for his Southwest building designs, and renderings for the Hassayampa Inn provided for eighty-eight rooms in a "pueblo art deco" style. Even before construction began, the Southwestern-Spanish Colonial Revival look of the hotel had caught the attention of the American hotel industry. Many of the furnishings were of Castilian walnut. The Hassayampa Hotel was leased to W. Banks Hanner of Los Angeles. His brother, Paul, who had managed resort hotels "catering to high class patronage" in California, was hired to manage the hotel, and his wife became the hostess.
The Prescott Journal-Miner published the list of "Contributors to the Hotel" which hangs there now. Prescott old timers who scan down the roll will recognize the many businesses and individuals, big and small, who made Grace Sparkes' dream of a grand hotel come true. Many of them attended the celebratory dinner-dance held in the dining room on November 5, 1927, admiring the beauty, barber and flower shops, the gift store, coffee shop and the flowers sent by well-wishers. The hotel was made possible by the determined efforts of its civic leaders, commanded by Sparkes, and the financial support of Prescott's citizenry. Grace worked to keep the project alive from its conception in 1920, until the opening, and the hotel directors, the stockholders, and the townspeople appreciated her "fine cooperation and tireless zeal, her energy and counsel and resourcefulness".
How is this relevant to Prescott now? One, there is a well-founded move afoot to rename the "Old Armory", The Prescott Activity Center, the "Grace M. Sparkes Activity Center." What better way to honor the determined lady who envisioned and promoted the growth of Prescott for twenty-five years? Her involvement in the building of the Hassayampa Inn was only one of the myriad of community affairs she engaged in. (If you would like to help in getting the Activity Center renamed, please contact Katherine Gosney at 778-2142.) Two, the only individual listed on the contributors' list still living is Prescott native Alma Jo Elrod Stevens Minucci, whose father invested in shares for her when she was only three years old.
Mona Lange McCroskey is a Research Historian at Sharlot Hall Museum. This topic is more fully covered in her article, "The persistent lady and the building of a grand hotel in Prescott, Arizona: The Hassayampa Inn," in the journal edition of the Museum's newsletter of December 1989.
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number: (pb145f4i7). Reuse only by permission.
Snappy dressers were also part of the plan to bring a "modern first-class hotel" to the growing community of Prescott in the 1920s. Grace Sparkes, one of our town's greatest boosters, lead the drive to raise enthusiasm and $200,000 by the time construction began in February 1927.