Hotel Lester-Lester Cafe, also known as the Dodge House-Long Branch, is a historic building located in Mason City, Iowa, United States. Its construction, completed in 1915, was a project undertaken by local real estate developer Meir Wolf. It was built as a two-story building a block away from the passenger and freight depots of the Chicago and North Western Railroad and the Chicago Great Western Railway. The building was meant to be used as a railroad hotel so passengers and rail employees would not have to travel the six to eight blocks to the hotels downtown. It is the only remaining railroad hotel left in Mason City.[2] Hotel guests stayed in the 29 rooms on the second floor, and three commercial spaces on the first floor were occupied by a variety of restaurants, grocery stores and barbershops. Its most famous guest was track star Jesse Owens, who was in town in December 1937 for a basketball exhibition. He could not stay at the other hotels in town because of his race.[2] In 1975 the hotel's name was changed to the Dodge House and the Long Branch Saloon occupied the space that had previously housed a cafe. By that time it was largely used as a rooming house, and it was used to house the homeless.[3] The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.[1]
An arsonist set fire to the building on September 6, 2006, and did significant damage to the structure. It had been vacant for five years at that time.[3] In 2007 it was decided to remove the second floor and to convert the first floor into four apartments.[4]
hotel, lester, lester, cafe, also, known, dodge, house, long, branch, historic, building, located, mason, city, iowa, united, states, construction, completed, 1915, project, undertaken, local, real, estate, developer, meir, wolf, built, story, building, block,. Hotel Lester Lester Cafe also known as the Dodge House Long Branch is a historic building located in Mason City Iowa United States Its construction completed in 1915 was a project undertaken by local real estate developer Meir Wolf It was built as a two story building a block away from the passenger and freight depots of the Chicago and North Western Railroad and the Chicago Great Western Railway The building was meant to be used as a railroad hotel so passengers and rail employees would not have to travel the six to eight blocks to the hotels downtown It is the only remaining railroad hotel left in Mason City 2 Hotel guests stayed in the 29 rooms on the second floor and three commercial spaces on the first floor were occupied by a variety of restaurants grocery stores and barbershops Its most famous guest was track star Jesse Owens who was in town in December 1937 for a basketball exhibition He could not stay at the other hotels in town because of his race 2 In 1975 the hotel s name was changed to the Dodge House and the Long Branch Saloon occupied the space that had previously housed a cafe By that time it was largely used as a rooming house and it was used to house the homeless 3 The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 1 Hotel Lester Lester CafeU S National Register of Historic PlacesShow map of IowaShow map of the United StatesLocation408 410 2nd St NW Mason City IowaCoordinates43 09 13 6 N 93 12 28 3 W 43 153778 N 93 207861 W 43 153778 93 207861Arealess than one acreBuilt1915Architectural styleEarly CommercialNRHP reference No 02001543 1 Added to NRHPDecember 20 2002 An arsonist set fire to the building on September 6 2006 and did significant damage to the structure It had been vacant for five years at that time 3 In 2007 it was decided to remove the second floor and to convert the first floor into four apartments 4 References edit a b National Register Information System National Register of Historic Places National Park Service July 9 2010 a b Beth Enright Hotel Lester Lester Cafe National Park Service Retrieved 2016 12 08 with photos a b Mary Pieper September 7 2006 Dodge House linked to Mason City s railroad history Globe Gazette Mason City Retrieved 2016 12 08 John Skipper August 1 2007 Long Branch being restored as apartments Globe Gazette Mason City Retrieved 2016 12 08 nbsp This article about a property in Cerro Gordo County Iowa on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte nbsp This article about a building or structure in Iowa is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Hotel Lester Lester Cafe amp oldid 1180758047, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
