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Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott
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Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott
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The Herald Statesman
Tuesday, 9 September, 1924

         KAATERSKILL HOTEL IS BURNED
         
         Long Famous Hostelry in Catskills to Which
           Famous Otis Elevated Railroad Ran
             Is Destroyed by Fire
             
         Kingston, N.Y., Sept. 8, - The Hotel Kaaterskill,
       famed since its erection in 1882 as the finest sum-
       mer hostelry in the Catskill Mountains, was burned
       to the ground this evening. The fire started in the
       kitchen, where several employes were making soap.
       It spread through the frame building of 1,200 rooms
       with such rapidity that before the fire apparatus
       from nearby towns could reach the scene, it was a
       swirling mass of flames. The damage is estimated
       at $250,000.
         The Hotel Kaaterskill was built by George Harding,
       a prominent Philadelphia lawyer who, previous to
       1882, accompanied his invalid wife to the Catskills
       for several summers. In these earlier sojourns he
       stopped at a hotel not far from the site of the
       burned hostelry. One day, so the story goes, he
       asked that chicken be served to his wife every day.
       The proprietor said that this was against the rules,
       chicken being prepared only on Sunday. When he con-
       tinued to refuse, Harding left the place, saying
       that he would return the following summer to build
       a hotel which would eternally eclipse the one he
       was leaving. The Hotel Kaaterskill was the result
       of Mr. Harding's pique. Leading to it was the fa-
       mous Otis Elevated railroad, which scaled the moun-
       tain from the low-land.
         Harding continued as the proprietor of the hotel
       until two and a half years ago, when it was sold
       to Harry Tannenbaum, a realtor of Lakewood, N.J.
       The hotel was a very popular summer retreat of the
       society folk of New York and Philadelphia, and many
       famous guests registered there. Among these were
       the late President Roosevelt, Henry Ford and Harvey
       Firestone, General Grant had spent vacations at the
       hotel.
         There were no guests in the hotel last night, it
       having officially closed on Labor Day. The building
       was insured for $125,000.
       
       Transcriber's Note: It was said to be the largest
       mountain hotel in the world. Newspapers of the day
       estimated the loss at between $250,000 and $750,000.
       Its owner, Harry Tannenbaum, died the following
       November and the hotel was never rebuilt. The pro-
       perty is now owned by the State of New York as part
       of the Catskill Park.
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