The
proprietors of it intended it should be a family hotel, but it did not
meet with the success anticipated, and when, on the 19th of May, 1878,
it was burned to the ground it was unoccupied. The fire was thought
to be the work of incendiaries. The loss was about $20,000, partially
insured. Four firemen were quite seriously injured at this fire, but
all recovered.
* * * * *
The Carpenter house, on the corner of Summit avenue and Ramsey street,
was built by Warren Carpenter. Mr. Carpenter was a man of colossal
ideas, and from the picturesque location of his hotel, overlooking the
city, he could see millions of tourists flocking to his hostelry. The
panic of 1857, soon followed by the great Civil war, put a quietus on
immigration, and left him stranded high on the beach. Mr. Carpenter's
dream of millions were far from being realized, and when on the 26th
of January, 1879, the hotel was burned to the ground, it had for some
time previous passed beyond his control.
* * * * *
At one time there were three flourishing hotels on Bench street.
The average citizen of to-day does not know that such a street ever
existed.
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