Why Was The Oglethorpe Hotel Torn Down?

This story was first published in the January 2023 issue of Discover Downtown Brunswick, a publication of the Brunswick News printed in Brunswick, Georgia.  Written by Josh Dukes

I run the Golden Isles History Facebook page, and one topic that comes up time and again is the Oglethorpe Hotel.  I’m an Oglethorpe superfan. From the moment I found out something that grand once existed on Newcastle Street, I was hooked. When a group post focuses on the Oglethorpe, the conversation inevitably slips from “how grand it was” to “what a tragedy” in just a few comment lines.  I always bristle at this. It’s not because I don’t also lament the scrapping of the hotel for parts in 1958 – I do.  The bristling comes from the causes that are cited – many times a “corrupt government” or people who just didn’t care are listed as the culprit.  But was that really the case? Like many legends shrouded by the mists of time, the true story is much more nuanced.   So here I present to you the real story of why the Oglethorpe was torn down – and the people who tried to save it.

The Oglethorpe Hotel at the turn of the 20th century

First, a brief history.  The Oglethorpe Hotel was built in 1888 from plans drawn up by architect John A. Wood. The Mahoney-McGarvey House (1891) is also a Wood design.  He later designed the Tampa Bay Hotel, a sibling of the Oglethorpe (more on Tampa Bay Later.) 

The 1888 hotel wasn't the first hotel to sit on this lot - another pre-dated it by 52 years.  The Oglethorpe House was constructed in 1836, the same year that Brunswick was officially incorporated as a city. The original proprietor was John Davis. It sat in approximately the same spot on Newcastle Street as the 1888 Oglethorpe Hotel would occupy years later. It was a fine, 4-story hotel. ln June 1837 the Oglethorpe House was described in the paper as a "new and elegant establishment, having been fitted and furnished in a superb style," and was ready for the "reception of company." The hotel announced that its bar would be stocked with the "choicest wines and liquors, and the larder filled with the best the market affords" with a "commodious Stable attached to the establishment, well stocked with hay and grain."

Oglethorpe House occupied the same area as the later Oglethorpe Hotel
Photo courtesy of Brunswick DDA, colorized by Josh Dukes

Following the Regatta of the Aquatic Club of Georgia, it was reported that the "Club with their
guests to the number of 50 or 60 sat down to an elegant dinner at the Oglethorpe House and the evening was spent in the due observance of the rites of conviviality and good fellowship."
ln 1838, the Brunswick and Darien Stage company announced that a two-horse coach would leave the Oglethorpe House at 7 A.M. weekdays for Grants Ferry near Darien and would make the return trip at 4 P.M. "Fare $2. each way. luggage extra." This made a convenient connection with the regular stagecoaches which came down the coast as far as Darien.

In December 1861, when the coast was blockaded by Federal gunboats, residents of Brunswick were ordered evacuated. Most of the families refugeed to Wayne and Ware counties. Two months later, when Confederate troops guarding Brunswick were ordered withdrawn, the railroad depot and the wharf were destroyed and the Oglethorpe House was burned by accident. On March 10 the town was occupied by Federal troops.

But back to our topic at hand. The Oglethorpe Hotel wasn't burned down.  It survived two World Wars and the Great Depression before its 70-year reign over Newcastle Street came to an end in late 1958.  So - what happened?  

1958 actually started well for the Oglethorpe. Owner Howard Dayton of Dayton Hotels announced the opening of a new steakhouse in the lobby.  Dayton had owned the Oglethorpe since 1944, when it was purchased from Mrs. Jack Gardner.  Private events as well as public gatherings and a weekly game night were ongoing.  Some hotel rooms were permanently occupied by tenants.  However, by October the hotel had only 3 remaining renters living in the rooms. Dwindling businesses occupying the first floor included Floyd’s Barber Shop and Brunswick Sewing Shop on the F Street side. The G Street side housed Frank Preston’s Garage. Other residents and businesses had already vacated the building, even though no decision had been made to tear it down.  The reason for this was simple – the building was in lousy condition. In April, the boiler had exploded in the basement, causing significant damage.  Fortunately, no one was injured in the accident.  It was noted in the News that no one would be able to occupy the building by winter as there would be no hot water.  The boiler added to the mounting costs needed to bring the aging hotel up to newer codes and may have been the breaking point for Howard Dayton.  The hotel would need to be rewired, and significant foundation issues would need to be tackled.  

The Oglethorpe Hotel in the 1950s

The restaurant was shuttered in September. Dayton noted this was a cost-saving measure in anticipation of selling the hotel. He explained that the hotel had been losing money for some time, telling the Brunswick News “I regret to see it disintegrate – it is a beautiful, delightful place, but there is economically nothing else to do.” Investors were sought to save the hotel and bring it up to code, but the numbers didn’t bare out.  The hotel property itself was valued at $200,000 – and that was minus the aging hotel sitting on it.  Howard Dayton truly seemed to love the hotel and want to save it, as he further lamented, “There hasn’t even been one person interested in putting up one dime.  I’m not able to be as philanthropic as I’d like.  I’d like to keep it.”  So sentimental was Dayton that on the night that the hotel closed for good on October 3rd, he made a point to dine at Renaldo’s Palm Lodge, repeating the same dining location as the night that he purchased the Oglethorpe 14 years earlier

The Mahoney-McGarvey House still stands facing the courthouse on Magnolia Square

The shifting tastes of the public regarding Victorian architecture must also be taken into consideration.  If you could put yourself into a 1958 mindset, you’d note that the Oglethorpe was only 70 years old when it was torn down.  How many “ugly” brutalist buildings from the 1950s would we tear down today without batting an eye? (I’m looking at you, Frank M. Scarlett Federal Building.)  The atomic age of the 1950s brought the promise of clean-lined ranch homes with low ceilings and Formica flooring to replace the drafty, dusty, velvet-curtained Victorian.  New homes were viewed as sanitary, while Victorians were associated with aging, sick grandparents.  I highly recommend googling Erin Blakemore’s article, “How Victorian Mansions Became the Default Haunted House” for more on this topic- it’s a fascinating read.  It’s a fair assumption that these new tastes extended not only to homes but hotels as well. I don’t like it, but I understand.

With the lack of investors and the need to turn a profit on the raw materials, demolition began on November 17, 1958, with the removal of windows and doors.  The wrecking ball came soon after. Later that month, The News advertised hotel materials for sale on site, including bricks, marble tile, windows and doors, and even the sprinkler system. Many homes and other businesses around town were soon built with Oglethorpe brick and furnishings.

The Oglethorpe gone – that much is true. However, the Mahoney-Garvey House still stands across from the historic Glynn County Courthouse.  The columns of the home are close copies of those used on the Oglethorpe.  

Tampa Bay Hotel, now the Henry Plant Museum

You can also still visit the Oglethorpe’s beautiful sister property if you have the itch to roll down to Tampa, Florida.  On the University of Tampa’s campus stands the magnificent Henry Plant Museum, formerly known as the Tampa Bay Hotel.  Only 3 years younger than the Oglethorpe, Tampa Bay was also designed by J. A. Wood.  The Tampa Bay Hotel is basically the Oglethorpe on steroids – it’s grander in scale and architectural style.  While the front porch feels like a dead ringer for the Oglethorpe, Tampa's porch is concrete and the supporting posts are metal rather than wood. Hotel owner Henry Plant wanted a fully fireproof hotel and he got it.  I was lucky to visit the hotel just a few years ago.  Standing on that grand front porch, I got actual goosebumps. I almost felt like if I concentrated hard enough, I could see the Ritz Theater across the street if I turned around.  The Oglethorpe is gone, but even by those of us who never set foot in her pink marbled lobby, she won’t soon be forgotten.