Northern Hotel 1910’s-2024
In this week’s White Pine: Then & Now, we revisit the Northern Hotel, which was claimed by fire on May 17, 1964.
The Northern Hotel was financed by prominent Goldfield businessmen G. L. “Tex” Rickard, Joseph Stevens, and W. S. “Ole” Elliot and opened for business on January 8, 1907. The hotel was immediately profitable and was among the first buildings, if not the first, in Ely to feature indoor plumbing, telephones, as well as hot and cold water in every room. The hotel closed in May 1932 due to lack of business, likely because of the Hotel Nevada opening its doors in 1929 one block to the east, and reopened once again in 1937. The First National Bank of Ely occupied a space on the northwest corner of the ground floor until 1956 after having moved back into the hotel in 1923. After the bank left for the final time, a bar opened in the space the bank was located in. The Northern remained open until that fateful day in 1964 when fire broke out at 3:30am, completely engulfing the building in flames.
In the current view, the wall the mural is painted on is all that remains of the once majestic Northern Hotel, with that wall being the reason the adjacent buildings were spared from the fire. The spot where the hotel once stood is now a dirt parking lot. Many past and present residents of White Pine County remember that day as though it happened yesterday and will recount their stories of watching the firefighters desperately trying to save the building whenever the Northern is mentioned.
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