The Hotel Chadron

A.K.A. The Olde Main Street Inn

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Est. August 8, 1890

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Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 15, 2023

1. The Hotel Chadron Marker

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From the National Register Nomination prepared by Michael Anderson, December 7, 2001:
The Hotel Chadron was built in 1890 by Peter and Margaret O'Hanlon, after their previous

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 15, 2023

2. The Hotel Chadron Marker

The marker is on the left side of the front/entrance.

hotel endeavor, the Chadron House, was destroyed by fire. The Chadron House was constructed in 1885, the same year Chadron was incorporated, in order to service travelers and workers on the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley railroad. Surveyors from the FE&MV platted Chadron, and the town served as this important regional railroad's western terminus for about a year. The Chadron House was located adjacent to the FE&MV tracks and the Hotel Chadron, built to replace it, was constructed on the same spot.

The Hotel Chadron was formally opened to the public on August 8, 1890. The need for a hotel in the vicinity was made plain by the local paper, which crowed: “...the hotel is already almost full with steady boarders and it will soon be the chief headquarters for railroad men and get a great portion of the transient trade for which it is so well adapted.”  When opened, the Hotel Chadron boasted forty-six total rooms and twenty-nine rooms “...fitted up in first class condition for the public... there not being a room in the house without a transom.”  The room rate was two dollars per day.

In late December 1890, four months after the Hotel

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 15, 2023

3. The Chadron Hotel

The current sign high on the northeast corner of the building features: “77 Longbranch Saloon” and “The Olde Main Street Inn.”

Chadron opened, a band of Miniconjou and Hunkpapa Sioux led by Chief Big Foot left the Pine Ridge Indian agency just northeast of Chadron. Though mostly unarmed, the band was considered hostile and was intercepted by the U.S. Army 7th Cavalry. On December 29th, nearly 300 of Big Foot's band, including women and children, were massacred at Wounded Knee creek by the 7th Cavalry. On December 30, immediately after the Wounded Knee massacre, Major General Nelson A. Miles arrived in Chadron with 190 men and officers and established his headquarters at the Hotel Chadron to lead the investigation of the tragedy. Within two weeks he excoriated the officer directly responsible for the massacre, writing: “To overcome the failures caused by others, either through blind stupidity or criminal indifference, I have had much additional work (to prevent further bloodshed). I think Col. Forsyth's action about the worst I have ever known... There must have been nearly 100 women and children killed.”  It is unclear how long Miles stayed at the Hotel.

The Hotel Chadron has served the City of Chadron as a place of accommodation, recreation and conviviality

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 15, 2023

4. The Hotel Chadron (east/front elevation)

From the National Register Nomination:  The Hotel Chadron is a three story brick building constructed in the Italianate style. The Hotel is approximately 68' X 76'. The first floor primary (east) facade has two entries, one in the center and one on the south end. The window openings of the Hotel Chadron retain the rounded arch configuration typical of Italianate architecture. The hotel retains its relatively heavy, decorative pressed-metal Italianate cornice, and retains a symmetrical appearance, again indicative of the Italianate style.

The original hotel lobby was converted into a lobby/bar in the early 1950's by the Glover family, a use for which it continues. Behind the bar/lobby, which runs almost the entire north/south axis of the building, original public and service spaces continue to be used as public spaces. Further west on the first floor, the 1903 addition, originally a YMCA recreational space, retains much of its open character in its use as a dining hall, kitchen and service area.

The second and third floors of the Hotel Chadron maintain their basic configuration since construction. The hallways and entry/egress remain from the historic period. However, the original twenty six overnight rooms from 1890 have been connected and converted into four suites and six individual rooms, with two more of the original spaces having been converted into storage.

According to the latest data available from the Nebraska Historic Buildings Survey, the Hotel Chadron is one of only four 19th century hotels extant in the entire Nebraska Panhandle.

for 112 years. It has also born witness to one of the most tragic and notorious episodes in the long and sad history between Native Americans and the U.S. government. The Hotel Chadron's connection to Wounded Knee, through association with General Miles’ stay, is a small but significant aspect of Western United States history. It is the only known civilian building in Nebraska known to be associated with the tragedy. The Hotel Chadron has prevailed through the “Indian Wars” years, railroad boom periods, the Great Depression and through to the modern era. Though still a railroad and ranch town at its heart, the City of Chadron has grown beyond that to become a center of higher education and a tourist destination, a regional center of commerce with a nearly mythic Western history. Through all this, the Hotel Chadron has changed with the city, moving from a tough railroad hotel to a public facility and on to its current use as a popular tourist Bed and Breakfast. The Hotel Chadron, still looking much as it did when Nelson Miles knew it, has been and remains an integral part of Chadron's history.

Excerpt:  The Hotel Chadron was built in 1890 in Italianate style. It has also been known as the Railroad YMCA and as the Olde Main Street Inn. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

The hotel opened August 8, 1890, as a replacement for a previous hotel that burned. It served as the headquarters for investigating general Nelson A. Miles while he investigated the Wounded Knee Massacre of December 29, 1890. Miles came to the Chadron Hotel immediately, arriving December 30, and within weeks identified “blind stupidity or criminal indifference” as contributing causes of the tragedy. It is unclear how long he stayed at the hotel.