St George Hotel/Hotel Revere

Historic District Downtown Building Inventory

St. George Hotel/Hotel Revere (Site ID 46)

Joseph M. and Martha Pomeroy, the town founders, erected the original St. George Hotel in May 1878. Located on the comer of what was then Third street and Main, the wooden hotel was a popular stage stop known for its excellent meals. The lumber for the building came from the Blue Mountains and was hauled to town by Tom Burlingame. Shortly after Pomeroy constructed the hotel, he sold the building to G.A. Sawyer in 1879. Martha Pomeroy divorced Joseph and the hotel was sold to Martha Pomeroy in March 1881. Martha Pomeroy married Harry St. George in September 1881 and changed the hotel's name to the St. George Hotel. The couple operated the hotel until 1887 when Colonel J.W. Hunt purchased the St. George. Hunt had been the proprietor of the hotel since the summer of 1886. Hunt expanded the business in 1888 by constructing a two-story annex made of local brick from the yard that stood west of the wooden hotel. In August 1888, a smaller structure was removed from the site to make way for the new brick annex. By December, the $16,000 annex was almost completed and was said to have elegant bedrooms, carpeted halls, modem conveniences, and a bridal chamber (East Washingtonian, 10 January 1889).

By July 1891, Alexander and Florence Gilmour were the sole proprietors of the hotel, and planned to build a new brick building to replace the original wooden St. George Hotel. Their plans never came to fruition. By 1894, G. L. Campbell took over the ownership of the hotel. In April 1901, proprietor H. L. Lanning asked the City Council for permission to move the wooden St. George Hotel to a lot directly to the south (Allen House, current location of Resource #54). Permission was granted and Lanning constructed a new brick building adjoining the two-story annex. The hotel was completed in 1902 after Lanning successfully connected to the city's water main. The proprietors changed the name of the hotel to the Hotel Revere after the brick structure was erected. Over the years, the hotel has had many proprietors and housed a variety of businesses.

Some of the long-time occupants of the building include L.F. Koenig & Co. (1902 until the late 1920s), Piggly Wiggly, Tammany Hall, restaurants, beauty parlors, the newspaper office, and an auto parts store. The current owners are rehabilitating the building for use as a store, residence, and bed and breakfast. A drinking fountain originally was located along Main street in front of the hotel.

Based on research by
Donovan & Associates.

Quick Links

St George Hotel/The Hotel Revere

A drawing of the St. George Hotel, Pomeroy, Washington Territory,

Drawn just several years after its completion and printed in Historic Sketches by Frank T. Gilbert, 1882, the St George Hotel

A photograph of the original St George Hotel connected to the Brick addition, 1891-1901, Pomeroy, Washington

Sometime between 1891 and 1901, here's a couple of guys, one on a horse, chatting in front of the billiard parlor. That's the original hotel (the balcony is much larger than in the drawing) connected to the Brick Addition. Dated by the presence of the Pomeroy Savings Bank building [commonly known as the Cardwell Building], which was finished in 1891, and the presence of the original St. George, which was moved following city approval in the summer of 1901.

Newspaper clipping about St George Restaurant

A snippet from the "Down Memory Lane" column in a February, 1978, isue of the East Washingtonian talked about the new management at the St. George Restaurant in 1903.

As an avid sportsman and hunter President Theodore Roosevelt enjoyed his trips out West. Rumor and legend have it that on at least one trip, Teddy spent the night in Pomeroy, slumbering at the Hotel Revere.

In February, 2024, Wendi Watson shared the following two photos from 1903 with the Pomeroy Community History group:

Photo of 6 men taken around Pomeroy during 1903. One has been identified as Theodore Roosevelt.

(Courtesy of Wendi Watson)

Wendi wrote: These are some of our "favorite family photos" and are titled "President Roosevelt's Body Guards." The second man from the left is her great-great-grandfather Burt Kimble. The man to Kimble's left has been speculatively identified as Roosevelt who was in the area during late-Spring, 1903.

(Courtesy of Wendi Watson)

In this second photo, Teddy has moved to our right and is posing on his knee shooting his rifle.

1908 Pomeroy Fire Map showing the Hotel Revere, Pomeroy WA

In case you were wondering where the Hotel Revere Restaurant was, it was in the southern portion of the almost brand new Three-Story Brick that went up in 1901. The "Chine Laundry" was still operating as late as 1908. (This map drawn by the Sanborn Map Company in 1908.)

image of a receipt from 1903 using Hotel Revere letterhead

(Courtesy of the Garfield County Museum)

November of 1903 -- Wm Reilly was the proprietor -- Mrs. Celia (or Cecelia) Buckley's receipt for $2.00 for something. Looks like unreadable and cattle.
(Note: We're now looking at The Hotel Revere as the St. George Hotel has been renamed.)

Down Memory Lane of May, 1979, took us back to 1904 and a property sale related to the Hotel Revere:

Mr. and Mrs. St. George have sold to E. Halterman the east lot of their residence on Columbia Street, which they have occupied for many years. Mrs. St. George will leave soon for California, where she expects to make her home. Mr. S. will join his wife there next fall.

1908 Hotel Revere, Stationary, Pomeroy WA

1908 -- The top of a piece of stationary, when H. D. Poyneer was Proprietor. This lovely piece of ephemera and others were kindly donated by Charles Woody of Pomeroy.

1909, Looking East on Main Street. The sign on the front of the Hotel Revere Building is for "Koenig's."

Early 1900's, Chinese Laundry behind the Hotel Revere, Pomeroy WA

Laundry service behind the Hotel Revere. There are also rooms in the basement of the "Brick Addition" that contained bathtubs for farmers coming in for a weekend in town.

From "Down Memory Lane" of August 7, 1958, looking back to 1914:

image of the news clipping relating to the Lanning drinking fountain

The Lanning drinking fountain was set up in front of the Revere hotel last week and is now in use. The fountain was purchased by the Civic club with money donated by Mrs. Clara Lanning.

The fountain was also mentioned in an (apparently) undated bit from "Up-to-the-times magazine" volume 8:

"The Lanning fountain, the gift to the city of Mrs. Clara Lanning, a pioneer, has been put in place on Main Street, Pomeroy."

1915 or 1916

The dirt streets seems to date this to before the 1916 paving of main Street

From the April 7, 1918, EW as relayed through page 59 of Baldwin's A History of Garfield County

portrait of Martha Jane (Trimble) Pomeroy St. George

Mrs. Martha Jane (Trimble) St. George, formerly Mrs. J. M. Pomeroy, founder of the city, passed away April 22, 1918. She was born in Iowa in 1842 and in 1946 she and her parents and three brothers started west by ox team to Oregon. At. the Platte River, her father was killed by Indians and her mother continued. The oldest boy was 14 years of age at the time. The family made their home near Salem, Oregon, and on October 6, 1857, she married J. M. Pomeroy.

In the fall of 1864 they made their way to where Pomeroy is now situated. On Sept. 8, 1881, after divorcing Pomeroy, she married Harry St. George, who at the time of her death was the county clerk. St. George was also captain of the local militia before and during the Spanish American War. Mrs. St. George was the mother of Clara (Mrs. Eugene T.) Wilson, Mrs. Alva McClung, and E. M. Pomeroy.

scan of newspaper column mentioning new landlord at the Revere as well as a fire in room 44.

The "Personal Mentions" column in an October, 1919, issue of the E-W showed us these two interesting tidbits about the Hotel Revere.

From the teens. Notice the "L. F. Koenig & Co." sign above entrance to the retail. The Hotel lobby was in the "Brick Addition."

From an issue of the East Washingtonian, June, 1920,

LUDWIG F. KOENIG

The city of Pomeroy and Garfield county deeply mourn the death of Ludwig F. Koenig. To many his removal comes as a personal bereavement. Possessing a high sense of honor and a genial disposition he endeared himself to a large number of his fellowmen.

Broad-minded, with liberal views and good judgement, his counsel frequently was sought by businessmen and the leaders of the several societies with which he was identified.

Throughout his long business career he commanded the implicit confidence of all with whom he had dealings. Strong in principle and firm in his convictions he stood for the best interests of community and state. He was a pillar in his church, an aid to his town, a firm support in every worthy cause.

The August 12, 1971, East Washingtonian column "Down Memory Lane" has this bit of information from the summer of 1921:

Loren E Harris has arrived fron Ephrata to take charge of the Revere Hotel as manager for Mr. Davis, who will give his personal attention to the Dacres in Walla Walla, which he recently purchased. Mr. Harris has run the Morris Hotel in Ephrata for 11 years.

From the same August 12, 1971, "Down Memory Lane" column. The St. George was originally on the corner of 3rd (now 7th) and Main streets from 1878 until 1901, when it was lifted up, carried down to the corner of (then) 3rd and Columbia and turned 90 degrees. (Cross-posted on the Maple Hall page.)

W. L. Meyers has bought of Mrs. Clara Lanning the property containing the old St. George Hotel building on Third street, opposite the Seeley Theatre. The consideration was $5,000, Mr. Meyers exchanging liberty bonds for the full amount.

It's possibly a bit of a stretch to have this 1924 story here, but Mrs. Trimble was married to Angus Trimble who was Martha Jane Trimble Pomeroy St. George's brother.

MRS. ANNA TRIMBLE IS DEAD

Was Resident of Lewiston Since 1865 and Known in Pomeroy

Mrs. Anna Trimble, widow of the late Hank Trimble, resident of Lewiston since 1865, died in Lewiston of the infirmities of age last Saturday. Mr. Trimble was a brother of the late Mrs. M. J. St. George and an uncle of Mrs. Peter McClung and E. M. Pomeroy of Yakima, and Mrs. Clara L. Wilson of Washington, D. C. Mr. and Mrs. Trimble often visited in Pomeroy and were known to many old-timers here. Read the rest...

-- October, 1924, East Washingtonian

From the "Down Memory Lane" column of April 13, 1978, looking back to 1928 and this news:

"A deal was closed yesterday whereby Jack Kincaid, landlord of the Revere Hotel for the past 15 months, disposed of his interest to Ben Johnson, former owner of the O.K. Barber Shop. Kincaid was compelled to dispose of his business, owing to ill health."

Seen in the "Local News" section of the EW, September 26, 1935:

Mrs. L. F. Koenig, Tacoma, is here visiting at the home of her sister, Mrs. George Burlingame, and will remain indefinitely.

[Notes from 2023: Lelah E. (Williamson) Koenig was born July 16, 1871, in Michigan. She died on September 3, 1946, in Lewiston and is buried in the Pomeroy City Cemetery.]

The October 24, 1935, issue of the East Washingtonian had this late-breaking news:

A. Rubenser Dead From Heart Attack

DIES THIS AFTERNOON IN REVERE HOTEL LOBBY AFTER ORDERING LUNCH

Adam Rubenser died this afternoon [October 24, 1935] about 1:30 of a heart attack. He had just entered the Revere hotel and ordered dinner. Before it had been served he began choking. Attempting to leave the lobby he fell over a table to the floor. A doctor was called, in the meantime artificial respiration being attempted by some persons present. When a physician arrived he pronounced the man dead, undoubtedly of a heart attack.

Mr. Rubenser was a little over 40 years of age, a son of the late Joseph Rubenser. He was born here. He married Tillie Weimer, who survives as do a son and two daughters. Deceased also left surviving two brothers, Frank Rubenser; Joseph J. Rubenser, Pomeroy; sisters, Lizzie Andrus, Lewiston; Theresa Geisler, Odessa; Helen Howard, Pomeroy; and Emma, residing in Montana.

No funeral arrangements had been made at the time of going to press. The body is resting at the C. M. Vassar mortuary.

The Hotel Revere paid for this small advertisment to run in the various "Local News Items" columns in the newspaper. (You can tell it's an advertisement because of the "41-tf" which means "start this in issue number 41 and run 'till forbid.' ") This is from the November 14, 1935, issue. Here is coverage of Aimee's visit.

Aimce Semple McPherson did stay at the Revere Hotel where she found the best of eats, wonderful beds, clean steam-heated rooms with baths, congenial surroundings and excellent service at reasonable rates. Come and patronize us. (Signed) Revere Hotel. 41-tf

1940s Main Street with the Hotel Revere, Pomeroy WA

1940's. Note the straight vertical "Revere Hotel" sign.

Newspaper clipping about Martha and Joseph Pomeroy's son dieing in 1946

A snippet from the "Down Memory Lane" column in a June, 1956, issue of the East Washingtonian looks back at the death of Ed Pomeroy (the son of Martha and Joe) in 1946.

This shot from the late 40's was given to me by Doris Landkammer. It was enclosed with a Christmas card from Viola Rickman who owned the parts store in the retail part of the building. The large, neon Hotel Revere sign was on the corner and there was a bit of a portico over the door to the Hotel Lobby. That was also the Greyhound Station at this time.

The Down Memory Lane column of July, 1960, looked back to July of 1950 when...

One of the largest real estate transfers in the city took place Monday, July 10 [1950]. The three-story Revere hotel, the four-unit Revere Motel and the Pomeroy Trailer camp were included in the sale. The property was purchased by Jack Owsley of Hermiston, Ore.

The Revere Motel and the Pomeroy Trailer camp were located NW of the Hotel at the current location of Memory Manor.

Here's a (very) brief synopsis of Owsley's life from familysearch.org: John Bruce Owsley was born on 27 March 1890, in Pomeroy, Garfield, Washington, United States. His father, Thornton Weston 'Barney' Owsley, was 42 and his mother, Harriet Eliza Stimson, was 27. He married Anna Louise Slocum after 1935. He lived in Union, Oregon, United States in 1920 and Colfax Election Precinct 69, Whitman, Washington, United States in 1940. He died on 1 October 1967, in Colfax, Whitman, Washington, United States, at the age of 77, and was buried in Colfax Cemetery, Colfax, Whitman, Washington, United States.

Youth Arrested Friday in Petty Larceny Case

An 18-year-old youth who gave his name and address as ********* of Walla Walla was arrested Friday evening and charged with petty larceny, Sheriff Edmund Taylor reports.

The youth is alleged to have stolen a radio from the Revere hotel. He was jailed over Friday night and Saturday was tried in justice court by Judge John Bailiss and fined $25.00 and costs.

****** was arrested by officers Friday evening after his car had broken down on the highway about one-half mile west of Pomeroy.

Taylor reports that the radio was found in the car and was recoverd.

[The arrested youth's name was edited out in 2022 by your editor.]

-- Page 1, EW, July 31, 1958.

As seen on the front page of the East Washingtonian in June, 1995.

Revere Hotel's new owners know their old buildings

Mark and Tracy Linebarger standing in the main floor of the Revere Hotel, Pomeroy, sometime in 1995.

Mark and Tracy Linebarger, the new owners cleaning up the Revere Hotel.

The Linebargers (LINE-bar-grrs) bought the property from Zack Lueck and Alverna Godinez in April and are in the process of taking the historic building at the corner of Main and 7th streets down to the basic skeleton on the main floor.

Sometime this summer, they'll determine if the building's basic structure is worth the investment of a new roof and some brick work. The couple will also know by that fime whether or not they've established enough credibility to acquire funding for their renovation.

And that's where dispelling the image of a couple of kooks playing in an old building has high priority.

"We've both been in the food service industry since we were basically old enough to work," Mark said.

The couple own the Baldwin Saloon in The Dalles, Ore., which has been open for three and a half years.

"We took an old building, in not as bad a shape as this one (the Revere), and took it done to the skeleton," Mark said. They put a new roof, walls and floors into the building. Tracy estimated their investment at $245,000 even with doing most of the "grunt work" themselves. They did the painting and staining, and used equipment Mark had been using in his catering business to bring costs down.

The couple said they kept the historic name of the business but it is really a restaurant and liquor sales make up around 15 percent of total sales.

"I'm a cook," Mark said, and his experience includes five years at Jake's, a seafood restaurant in Portland, and stints with restaurants in Boston and The Dalles as well.

"I've worked the 'front of the house' (waitressing) for 13 years," Tracy said. Between the two of them, they designed the commercial kitchen at the Baldwin Saloon, laid out service areas and flow, and created the restaurant's set-up. Tracy did the graphics for the business.

The Linebargers came across the Revere Hotel by chance. They were in Pendleton to look over a back-bar and saw the Patit Creek restaurant in Dayton listed in a guidebook.

They drifted a little farther east and saw the Revere. "We had never been out this way," Tracy said. They went home, started making phone calls and two weeks later looked at the building.

"We liked it even with all the junk in it," Tracy said. The ground floor was covered with wet debris and junk, and sand that was used to insulate the walls, Mark said.

In five weeks, the two of them have removed enough debris to fill eight 30-yd. dumpsters.

In the next few weeks, they hope to expose the building's skeleton and decide whether their plans for a restaurant on the main floor is feasible.

"For the most part, we think it's savable, though there's been a lot of water damage," Mark said. If not, they will tear the building down.

"But that's not what we're here for," Tracy said. "We like old buildings and we think this one is worth saving." Mark said he worked in his younger years with his father, who demolished old buildings, so he is knowledgeable about them.

"That's probably why he wants to save old buildings now," Tracy said with a laugh.

So far, they exposed a mural on the west wall of the two-story St.

Please see REVERE, Page 8

[Editor: Unfortunately, page 8 wasn't connected to page 1 when I found this, so there is no more.]

Taken sometime after 2012 (Because that's when that white Focus showed up). Photo by Ian Poellet (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 %5D, via Wikimedia Commons)

Here's a shot of the front of the Revere Hotel from the summer of 2015.

L. F. Koenig & Co.

image of a receipt L. F. Koenig & Co. from 1907

(Courtesy of the Garfield County Museum)

July 3, 1907, Mrs. Celia (or Cecelia) Buckley's receipt for $17.50 worth of "stuff" from L. F. Koenig & Co. It looks like her shoes were $2.00 and maybe a tie was 15¢. The rest of it? Your guess is as good as mine.

A "Brevity" from a mid-November, 1913, issue of the East Washingtonian:

Mr. and Mrs. L F Koenig left yesterday for a visit to Seattle and Portland.

Front page of the May 2, 1915, issue. From when everyone knew your whereabouts...

L. F. Koenig will return tomorrow from a business trip to Spokane.

I've put this story about Anna Petrusky here, even though she died in 1971, because she worked at Koenig's at this time (early 1920s).

Anna Petrusky Passes Monday Of Long Illness

Miss Anna Petrusky passed away after a long illness at Garfield County Memorial hospital Monday evening where she was a patient for many years. She was 82.

She was born Nov. 2, 1889 in Butte, Montana. She came to Pomeroy with her father, stepmother and sister, May, when she was about ten years old. The family first settled in Heaton Gulch, later moving to Gould city where the family farmed for many years.

Anna attended Pomeroy parochial school and later Colton Catholic school.

In her later years she worked for Koenig's Store in the yardage department. When Koenig's Store closed she worked for Cardwell's store.

Later she was bookkeeper for Pomeroy Warehouse & Feed.

Her home was on Baldwin Avenue. She leaves her sister, Mrs. George Bingman (May) of Moscow, Idaho and several nieces and nephews. Her step-sister Lena passed away in 1950 and John, her step-brother, in 1968.

Rosary was scheduled for Richardson Funeral Home Wednesday at 7 p. m. Funeral at Holy Rosary Catholic Church will be Thursday at 11 a. m. with Rev. Father John O'Brien officiating. Interment will be in Holy Rosary cemetery.

-- East Washingtonian, February 4, 1971

Piggly Wiggly store

According to Ray Cardwell in his Cardwell's: Pomeroy's Greatest Store, when Koenig's closed in the 1920s, it was replaced by a Piggly Wiggly store.

From the mid-late 1920s is this picture of Main Street, Pomeroy, with the Piggly Wiggly sign hanging on the corner of the Hotel Revere

Post-1925 is this lovely photo of Pomeroy's Main Street with the Piggly Wiggly sign on the Hotel Revere.

East Washingtonian newspaper

"Down Memory Lane" of October, 1975, took us back 30 years to 1945 and this momentous news:

Discharge papers filed by servicemen the past week with the county auditor were: U.S. Army to Joseph Bowles, Dan Messenger, Arthur S. Bunch, Forest W. Miller, Jacob B. Cormier, Arnold F. Trescott, John F. Porter, Lester R. Martin, M.M. Fitzsimmons.

The May 24, 1979, issue of the EW took us "Down Memory Lane" back to 1954 [that was a great year] and John Carlson, college graduate:

John Carlson of Deer Park, who will graduate from Washington State College with a bachelor of arts degree in English (journalism), has accepted a position on the East Washingtonian staff. His assignment will be that of news editor and advertising solicitor. He succeeds Les Reader, who accepted employment on the Clarkston Herald published by Leslie Kuehl.

Bottorff Auto Parts

From the Down Memory Lane column of May 16, 1956, takes us back to 1946:

The Bottorff Auto Parts, wholesale distributor, yesterday leased the room in the Revere hotel, facing Main street, formerly occupied by the Pomeroy Bakery, from Richard Keatts, proprietor of the building.

Pomeroy Auto Parts

From the front page of the June 4, 1981, East Washingtonian. (Cross-posted on the Mulkey Block/McKeirnan Building page.)

Bunch relocates Pomeroy Auto Parts

Picture of Larry Bunch preparing to move the Pomeroy Auto Parts furnishings from the Revere to the McKeirnan building.

Larry Bunch pries away the facing from his stock shelves Monday as he and crews from NAPA moved his store from Revere Hotel to its new location in the McKeirnan building. (Here's the rest of the story.)

Revere Hotel & Motel

An article in the May 17, 1979 issue of the EW commemorating the retirement of ambulance crew Jack Denny mentions the trailer court that was connected to the Hotel Revere:

The longest local run, Denny remembers, was 142 miles from Pomeroy to Clarkston—via Grouse Flat. The shortest was from the trailer court where the nursing home is now situated to the hospital.

(The whole article can be seen here..... [2022-02-25: link needed to page not yet created]

The trailer court he mentions was located several hundred feet NW of the Hotel Revere.

Millie's Beauty Shop

Looking back 10 years (to 1955) in the April 29, 1965, "Down Memory Lane":

Millie's Beauty Shop moved today to the first floor of the Revere hotel.

Castlemoyle Books & Gifts

Castlemoyle Books, Christmas, 2019

2022, painting the window trim of Castlemoyle Books, Pomeroy WA

It's late-summer 2022 and the painting keeps on going at Castlemoyle Books.