Two Centuries of Fine Tuning

1780

Recognizing that location is everything, College steward Ebenezer Brewster opens an inn and tavern on the corner of what is now Wheelock and Main.

1813

While his father is out of town, Amos Brewster literally moves the tavern to another site and builds the Dartmouth Hotel on the vacated lot.

1879

A hotel guest has a terrible stay. Half a century later he writes in his memoirs, "It is difficult now to find a country hotel so free from the tasteful, the dainty, the homelike. One would almost conclude that it was planned, furnished and managed to drive its guests to homes of their own."

1887

The Dartmouth Hotel burns to the ground. A resident of a neighboring fraternity remarks, "God finally visited his wrath upon this architectural conglomeration."

1889

The Wheelock Hotel opens on the site of the old Dartmouth Hotel.

1901

The College takes control of the Wheelock Hotel. The building is renovated and renamed the Hanover Inn.

1916

A writer for Country Life Magazine pans the Hanover Inn. "The worst feature of all," she writes, "was the table. A greater part of the effort was spent upon the wording of the menu than in the preparation of the food stuffs, which were often poor in quality as well as badly cooked and served. The chef proved his fitness for his position by the fact that he possessed 14 children and 'might not get another job' a policy which was at least humane, however, short-sighted as to the welfare of the hotel."

1939

The Hanover Inn's promotional package brags that there are "Comfortable Chairs and No Mosquitoes in the Inn Garden."

1949

Alumni Magazine columnist Bill McCarter tours the meat room, vegetable room, and dairy room of the Hanover Inn. He reports, "All these rooms have ultra-violet germ killers like barber shops."

1980

In conjunction with the Inn's bicentennial celebration this magazine publishes "a highly selective list of Hanover Inn guests who for various reasons would have made interesting roommates but weren't." The list includes Ray Kroc/Colonel Sanders, Joan Baez/William Westmoreland, B.B. King/Luciano Pavarotti, Bob Cousy/Anais Nin, and Richard Nixon/Alger Hiss.

1988

The Inn's apple pie is proclaimed "Best in New England" at a Yankee Magazine-sponsored contest.

Now one of the East's top hotels,the Hanover Inn has comea long way. A very long way.