Fire Destroys Historic Minn. Hotel Under Renovation

Fire early Friday engulfed and destroyed a onetime grand Main Street hotel in a small western Minnesota town that was being renovated, authorities said.

Firefighters in Ortonville were called shortly after 3 a.m. to the four-story Columbian Hotel, which was built in 1892, to find it ablaze, said Fire Chief Al Arndt.

The flames were brought under control in about two hours, but firefighters remained at the locale on the north end of downtown bringing down what's left of some of the brick walls with their high-pressure fire hoses, Arndt said.

The chief said the flames originated in the basement, but he has no information yet on how the fire started, adding, "To me, there was nothing suspicious about it."

Arndt, a longtime Ortonville native, "The part the town is going to miss the most is the history" of the Columbian.

The building was under remodeling at the time, with the intention of offering "a combination of things, including a few hotel rooms," Arndt said.

The remodelers, one of whom he identified as Damian Mullaney of South Dakota, would spend some nights in the building, "but they weren't in there last night," the chief said.

County records show the owner as Daniel Johnson, of Bushnell, S.D. Johnson bought the property from the city, which took ownership a few years ago after it went into forfeiture because of back taxes, said Big Stone County Treasurer Cindy Nelson.

Arndt recalled that a bar was run out of the building about four or five years ago. In the 1970s, he added, the Columbian was used for housing for the elderly.

Larry Helgeson of the Big Stone County Historical Society described the Columbian as "a grand hotel that has been a landmark forever" on 2nd Street, which is also known in town as Main Street.

"Recently, somebody was working on it, trying to restore it, but I guess that's over now," Helgeson added.

City Council Member Mel Reinke, a lifelong Ortonville resident, said the Columbian operated as a hotel until the 1960s, and he would occasionally wander into the lobby.

One evening in the 1950s, Reinke recalled, he and some friends were across the street from the Columbian waiting to get in to the movie theater. In one of the hotel windows were "two people playing guitar and accordion, entertaining us. They were pretty good. . . . We'd clap when they played one song, and then they'd play another."

Copyright 2012 - Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

McClatchy-Tribune News Service