Joseph C. Metlen was born in Pennsylvania in 1834. He arrived in Montana, in 1867, thirty years before he constructed Hotel Metlen. He and his brother worked as freighters from Corrine, Utah. Metlen valued his civic duty and represented Beaverhead…

The original owner of the St. Charles was French-born Albert J. Muller. Muller started his career in Carson City as a professional baker until he realized that a hotel business was more promising. Although most of his patrons were French-Canadian…

The founder of The Grand Imperial, C.S. Thompson, represented the Crown Perfumery in London, England. He moved to Silverton, Colorado in 1882 to inspect mining prospects, and he purchased four lots of the twenty-first block to make Silverton “the…

Henry Strater, a pharmacist from Cleveland, developed an interest in seeing the town of Durango, Colorado prosper. Believing the town needed place for railroad travelers to stay, Stater built the hotel with his brothers, Fred and Frank, and his…

Originally from Weatherford, Texas, John Weatherford traveled to Flagstaff in 1882 as a merchant hoping to sell goods to those who came through the town. By 1887, Weatherford became Justice of the Peace and a prominent member of local society. His…