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Article: Fool's Gold: The ill-fated Grand Central Hotel; built for a railroad boom that never occurred, hotel was eventually demolished for its scrap lumber. (Looking Back).
- Article from:
- Bellingham Business Journal
- Article date:
- January 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Wenatchee Business Journal, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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No business venture in Bellingham history devoured more capital and defeated more good intentions than the ill-fated Grand Central Hotel.
On May 23, 1887, the inaugural train of the newly completed Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) steamed into Vancouver B.C. from Montreal.
To accommodate the passengers, the CPR had built the Hotel Vancouver at the southwest corner of Georgia and Granville streets.
Like clockwork, the hotel had opened a week prior to the first train's arrival. Vancouver boomed as the terminus of a transcontinental railroad and the hotel of the same name made a fortune.
Reginald Jones, an attorney who had represented the ...