1875:  The Wright House

photo credit:  McKean County Historical Society Collection
    The Wright House was established in 1875. The Wright house was located on 101 East Main Street, Smethport.   B. F. Wright was the propietor. The hotel rates were $2.00 per day.  For it's time; the hotel was modern in arrangement and management.  The Wright House was generally credited with being one of the first class hotels in this area of the state. Of the five large hotels and public boarding houses in Smethport; the Wright House was well known for it's excellent table. This hotel burned in 1981.


photo credit:  McKean County Historical Society Collection

   A Mr. Sherman built this hotel and the house on the side was built his wife and he as their personal home. Inside the hotel, beneath the inside main windows was a railing that men could place their feet on and rest while lounging in the lobby. In the middle of the lobby stood a coal stove and a wooden check-in desk along the wall. When the bar was reopened after prohibition there was a copper tunel that ran along the floor of the bar with running water flowing through it so that men could spit their tobacco between their legs! Later there was a connecting building between the house and the hotel, but the year of this construction is unknown.
 
 

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