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As the third largest city in Minnesota, as well as a medical and industrial center, Rochester hosts visitors throughout the year. Hotels, motels, vacation rentals, timeshares, and other temporary rentals are the focus of topics in this category.

Rochester began as a temporary stop for travelers along the Dubuque Trail. Although the South Fork of the Zumbro River wasn't deep or wide enough to accommodate riverboats, the stagecoach would stop there for water, and travelers would spend the night. While the Dubuque Trail was the most traveled routes, smaller routes stopped in Rochester too.

Head's Inn and the American House were the first guest facilities in Rochester, although the latter soon became a boarding house.

The Bradley House gained a reputation as one of the best hotels along the Dubuque Trail. Owned by James T. Bradley, the hotel was situated at the corner of 4th Street Southeast and 3rd Avenue Southeast, which was called Dubuque Street as it was the route the Dubuque Trail took through town. Later, when the railroad came through, the Bradley House transported visitors from the depot to the hotel by way of an elegant coach. The building was destroyed much of the building in 1883, and another fire destroyed the rest in 1892.

Another distinguished Rochester hotel was the Cook Hotel, also known as the Cook House, which was located on a large lot at the corner of Broadway and 2nd Street Southeast. The five-floor hotel included a wine cellar, a vegetable cellar, and a large storage area in the basement, while four stores occupied the first floor, along with a billiard room, laundry, barbershop, and the First National Bank. The second floor included the hotel lobby, a reception and dining room, offices, a baggage room, parlors, and a few guest bedrooms. Most of the guest rooms were on the third and fourth floors. Opening in 1869, the Cook Hotel survived the financial Panic of 1873 and the economic depression of the 1890s, but it eventually succumbed to fire. The hotel experienced fires in 1879, 1881, 1882, and 1947, the latter of which resulted in its being demolished in 1949.

The Hotel Zumbro opened in 1912. Owned by John H. Kahler, the hotel primarily catered to guests of the Mayo Clinic. Beginning as a five-story building, Kahler added an eight-story addition adjacent to it in 1917. At the time of its demise in 1987, it was known as the Kahler Zumbro Hotel

The Hotel Zumbro was not the only hotel operated by Kahler, however. The eleven-story Kahler Grand Hotel was constructed in 1921 and originally included surgical suites and laboratories. Although it no longer includes medical facilities, it is still in operation today. An earlier hotel, a three-story building, known as the Kahler Hotel, was renamed the Damon Hotel when the larger Kahler Grand Hotel opened.

When the Stevens House, an earlier guest lodging facility, burned in 1877, it was replaced by a new hotel known as the Pierce House. It later became the Commercial House, the Grand Union Hotel, the New Rochester Building, and the Rochester Hotel. After serving as a hospital for a few years in the early 1920s, it was moved to 2nd Avenue Southwest and renamed the Maxwell Guest House, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Nevertheless, it was demolished in 2007.

Today, most but not all of the historic Rochester, Minnesota hotels are gone. The Kahler Grand Hotel, the Towers at the Kahler Grand, and the Kahler Inn and Suites remain, and perhaps some others. There are, however, several chain hotels serving the Rochester area. Any of these, as well as private temporary guest rentals of any sort, such as bed and breakfasts, are appropriate for this category.

 

 

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