95905

.. 161 W. Main (demolished) Holdsworth House/Darling Hotel Lehi, Utah County UTAH STATE HISTORY 111111111111111111111111111 1111 111111111111111111 111111111111111 3 9222 00575 9852 , _.'-'_ .. _ _ _ _ _ '. L .... ..."""" .1i.1i ig II ' 1.., ..£", EW''" ''''-I (Ijt'~~~N?~~e was--iiO~e- to several hotels like thijjarling Earlierthis summerme, my wife Mary, and two of our clnughters londed into the Sentrn Rnd headed eastward on 1-80. We made a Uturn at the Hill Cumorah in New York,andreturnedon 1-70. We didn't camp.Nordid wetow abulkytrailer. We took up nightly abode in hotels. Despite the fact that Shoshnnna and Jenny condemned a couple of our lodgings as Roach Motels, I quite enjoyed myself. C lean sheets, fresh towels, and a lack of old toennil clippings on the carpet are all one really needs to be comfortable when away from home. Although Lehi has had at lenst 10 hotels in the past century and a half, they had "II come and gone long before I was born. Four of the buildings still stand today, how- ever. I \ We have previously presented featureson the Lehi Hotel (394 W."t Main), and the Hammer Holel (162 Wesl Main) . Eventually we wi)) r,,late vignettes of the City l!ote1(fi88 Norlh Third East), the Union Holel (121 East State), and the Tteltuc Inn (1.50 East Stote). Today we want to s potlight the Darling Hotel, a M ain Street landmark for fou r decades . Ned Emnnual Oarlinp.-, born at ~~dge,OhiO,onMarch26,1847, Lehi Yesteryears lived in Iowa and California before coming to Lehi in the mid-1860s and marrying local girl Amelia Andreason. Darling was a renowned cook. With B.C. Earl he .. stablished a "cozy little restaurant" in January 1889 nt 149 West Main. Unfortunately this closed within two years . Dorling then became manager of the Brown Hotel atMain and Fourlh West. InSe ptember 1898heopened up nnother Lehi eating house. the Americnn Restaurant, at 157 West Mnin, and installed Oscar Darling as manager . 'l1,e June 3, 1899 "Lehi Banner" reported that Darling was in from Manning and talking or establ ishing f\ hotel in town. The following w.,ek he purchased the former ,] onas Holdsworth hOllse a t 161 West Main and enlarged and re m ode le d it i nto a 10 -room hotel which was compl e ted by July 20 , 1899. Business was vpry goorL TheJuly 27 189() "Banner" reported that Oil Pioneer Day Darling red 120 people before 7 p_m., when he rnn out or Boyd Holmstead, Darling's grandson, remembers that on another occasion when patrons were lining up for supper, men got to "apushin'-and-a-crowdin' to get in to I eat." His grandfather grabbed a large butcher knife and stood in the doorway_ "Now there'. plenty to eat in there for all of you," Darling bellowed. "Just take a little time and go in decent." The situation quickly came under control, Holmstead recalled. The May I, 1915 "American Fork Citizen" noted that "outside parties" were in Lehi negotiating for the purchase of the Darling Hotel. But Darling was mnking a good livingfrom the place and declined to sel1 until May 1922, when his son Walter became the new proprietor. Walt Darl ing expan ded th e plnce one building east (149 West Main) to include the form er B.C. Enrl Tinshop, which most recently had been the lawofficeofWil1iam Ash er. Bishop Collier Enrl would likely have generntecl much confusion in Lehi had he been the ward's ecclesiasticallender. Bishop Bishop Enrl has all echoic rhythm that would certainly have made ears perk up. See ~S-21l.PRge 3 I TIlis photo depicts the lobby of the Darling Hotel. mother Amelia Darling. and his daughter Jean_ F~m V , lort to right ;. Guy DarHng, OCT I 8 1991 lITAH PRESS ASSOCI" nON Clipping Senice Phone: [phone] .. LEm ~·/U~ ... , _ _ .. . _ ... ..... . . . . - ••- .• _ • • • • • • ,. _. _ _ •• _ • • _ . .. .,1..- " . , _ __ .... . , ..; ..... _ _ _ _ _ .. .....,i.~~_......... ..,.!..o;.... ;,j,;io'_~... -.....""'-• •. . Yesterye~rs: Continued ~t page i~' 1 ~ ld· "6 " . .... ' .__ .. -_ ..._.__.. ___ _ . ,.~ ......__ ......... . .__...·_ ..IiiF...' ........' , Lehi' s..' Darling ,Hotel ". ~ f~ r" " !~:, ,: " ,.1 , ,'_, • But although Bishop Earl was a gret. , bers tons of the coal, which also Hotel Lehi, which featured a con-, ,: Monnon, he is best remembered not ,This happened severa1times be· :, stoked .the building's heating sys-. necting restaurant. In the early ", for religious utterances from the fore the dog caught on. But then its :I~m, piled south ofthe kitchen area. ' ' , 1940s the restaurant portion of the . Meeting House pUlpit, but 811 a tin- sadistic nature surfaced: It beg..n l~i Immediately north across Main building was the Southwick Cafe; ,'?' smith and restaurant owner. ' '; ,leading other dogs to tl1e site and " ~Street from the Darling Hotel was Other businesses in the three D~r- .,.jl Earl had established his 149 lifting an offending leg just close ~ theCityHall.Lyinginhisbedeac~ , ling buildings over the years in- ":, West Main tinshop in 1888. As noted enough toentice the other creatures f, ~veningyoungHolm8teadcould hear , .. eluded Turner arid Whipple'" Tin , above, he and Ned Darling also to come into contact with the elec- i~ the toll of the curfew bell. For men ' Shop and Bicycle Repair Shop mainteined an eatery on the pre- ' trified metal. " ii who had to sleep during the day- ' (1938), Bank's Appliance (early ' mises from 1889 until 1899. The The dog show ended for Lehi :i time, a "dark room," with no win- ' 1940s), Bob Roberts's Barbershop ;, site later housed varioul barber- boy, in ' 1928 when Asher sold his :t!'dOWS, walavailable to gueats. .:', (1945-46), the Bishop's Storehouse, ", shops, grocery stores, and " shop to the Darlings and moved to ; J' Many ofthe patrons were travel- :-. Howard Dettmar's Radio Shop in·/ butcherahops before the Earls sold American Fork. The English Bull- i ing men who stayed in the hotel i'i theearly 1950s,and the Glade Berryl m the place to William Asher in 1906. . ' dog? It tried unsuccessfully to out- il""henever they came. through Lehi. '\ Delbert Huggard Music Studio' '.'; Englishman. Bi11As!'er ":811 ajack sm!"rt a moving Denver, Rio Grande ;\ Others,like "Profeasor G. M. Olund, " (1960s). " . ' . I of all trades. Firat a tinsmIth, then train. ' i i ,from StoCkholm, Sweden," probably , The 149 West Mam portIon of the , ' building (the original B. C. Earl aphotographer,andultimatelyLehi ... _ "Boyd Holmstead, who told me "; experienced Lehi hospitality once. City attomey,Asherevenfound time ". the dog story, has many fond memo- . ~:!, Apaid advertisement in th"Feb- Tinshop) was tom down in the late to play the fiddle in a local dance ' ries of the Darling Hotel; where he ,:' ruary I, 1906 "Banner" proclaimed 1940s, The other two buildings (157 band. . . spent much of his boyhood. ;'; Olund "the world's greateat palmist West Main and 161 West Main) When patrons would enter his ' The hotel's second story,' with a ' phrenologist and 8IItrologist that . were demolished in the 1960•. D.... place of business, the self-trained . balcony off the Darling living quar- 11 travels today.· From his "office· in spite its lusty past, the site of the attorney would announce, "State , ters, offered a grand view of Main ft the Darling Hotel the soothsayer , Darling Hotel today is the nond .... your business." If the customer , ' Street. The family and friends ii announced he was "able to tell your .. script parking lot lying between the wanted a milk pail mended or a watched many Lehi parades from past, present and future life by the Cobble Rock Clogger's building and copper boiler 80Idered Asher put on this vantage point. ,~'palm of your hand from cradle to Hair Cuts West. his leather apron and attended to '. '.' <. Although water from a city well 1; 'grave." thattask.Butifadeedneededtobe had been pumped to the hotel in l!' "It don't matter what you wish to . drawn up or a divorce matter 1903, theplaca had no inside plumb- I}, know,~ the 8eel'f~rther claimed, "I,; , handled,Asherputon a small derby ing. Family members, employees; ll;will answer all your questions corand became the lawyer. · ' i ' ':! ! 'and hotel guests h ..d to use the :~.rect1y, or no pay.· Accounts do not Wearyofdogsyellowingthefront ., communal outhouses south of the it sayhowmanyLehifolkspaidthe50 of hisshop (a definite tarnish to his complex. ' }~ cents to $1 charged by the oracle. , barrister image), Asherf8llhioned a <: " .' Mountains ' of linen 'werer piled,J!jf. " The Darling Hotel was a victim , widestripofelectrified tin along the high in the hotel's laundry room, '-':' oftheGreatDepressionofthe 1930s. area favored by the offending ca- , where the washing and ironing was ~~ WalterD,a rlingclosedthe doors and nines. ' ' done by hired women. And the .k:moved to Spanish Fork, where he, An English bulldog, a local leg- . restaurant's piles of diTty , dishes ':: manag~ a hotel for many more , end, bested Asher'lIingenuity;ho:w- ' ; had to be washed by han4.;;,,!l task .' ~ears. ' ' " , ever. The first time the animal at- ' ~hat kept several boxs.bli.SY.:$ "t\lj,.!*~ 1lf.Genevieve Gray , and Jennie ' ( tempted to befoul the law officeltin', i> ' !"Water ,had to be'heatM'on;thet Wanlass leased the Darling buildshop, he W811 jolted into quick re.' "'coal stove and Holrltstead temem! ' ings in August 1930 and opened the I