If you were standing here 150 years ago and looked back towards the center of town, you’d see an impressive four-story building called “The Phoenix Hotel.” Constructed in 1870 from white limestone carved from nearby bluffs, shimmering in the sunlight of summer mornings, it quickly accomplished what its creators hoped: it put this new little town of Lanesboro on the map!

Lanesboro’s founders built this town to attract tourists. By 1868 a railroad was bringing them. But where would they stay? They purchased land in the middle of a wheat field (for $50) and construction soon began on a first-class, luxury hotel. Within two years “The Phoenix” opened, becoming in the words of one reviewer, “…the finest hotel between Chicago and San Francisco.” Guests were pampered with dark oak woodwork, crystal chandeliers, plush furniture, a saloon (in which everything was painted white), and state-of-the-art amenities like running water and steam heat. Many rooms had their own fireplaces. Its Grand Opening, with a free public dinner and lavish entertainment, was remembered for years.

Spectacular to look at and stay in, the Phoenix was equally important for what it meant to its growing community. Combination hotel, railroad depot, post office, and restaurant, it also had a bank, law offices, and the medical clinic (or “sanitorium,” as he called it) of Lanesboro’s most colorful physician, Dr. Frank (“White Beaver”) Powell. Trains arriving daily brought passengers with the latest news, making the Phoenix Hotel the place to be and to be seen in Lanesboro.

Sadly, all that vitality was short-lived. Around midnight on May 3, 1885, flames erupted in the hotel’s lower floor. While volunteers heroically fought the blaze (whose cause was never determined), dawn’s first light revealed a building destroyed beyond repair. Too costly to rebuild, this phoenix would not rise from its ashes.
For a time, though, it had truly been grand and glorious—the Phoenix Hotel of Lanesboro, Minnesota!