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The Infamous Black Bird Southern Oregon History, Revised


Hotel Medford


    A new hotel for Medford is among the probabilities of the near future. Plans have been drawn, and part of the stock subscribed on a tentative proposition to erect a complete modern hostelry to accommodate the increased business. Both present structures are turning away people, and neither shows any indication of building the needed accommodations. The Nash some time since planned the erection of an addition [to] the "L" in the interior, providing 16 additional suites, with baths, but there has been no sign of building as yet. Neither has the Hotel Moore extended to the corner as once contemplated, the owner holding it more valuable for business purposes than for hotel. Mr. Moore, however, will provide a suitable site for a fine hotel on the West Side, and is understood to be figuring along these lines with capitalists.
Excerpt, "Hotels Jammed with Newcomers," Medford Daily Tribune, April 1, 1909, page 1


MAKE RAPID PROGRESS ON HOTEL MEDFORD
    Work is progressing rapidly on the sixth story to the Hotel Medford under the supervision of W. H. Merritt, the general contractor. Mr. Merritt has spent a lifetime as a contractor, several years of that time on the coast. He purchased two residences of J. H. Cochran on South Riverside when he came here over three years ago, one of which he occupies. He also built a double bungalow on South Riverside.
    Elmer Childers has a subcontract for the brick and plastering on the Hotel Medford. He says the brick made by the Southern Oregon Clay Products Co. of Central Point, being used on the hotel, is some of the best brick ever made on the coast.
    Mr. Childers has the contract for the Carl Fichtner building, corner of Fir and Sixth Street, and for the DeVore service station in East Medford.

Medford Mail Tribune, February 22, 1924, page 7


ANNEX TO HOTEL MEDFORD OPENED, AT $50,000 COST
    The 27 rooms with baths of the new fifth floor of the Hotel Medford will all have been completely furnished and be ready for use by this evening, and the new fast, large, modern elevator was put into use last evening for the first time. These and the other extensive improvements incidental to the new floor have been done at an expense of $50,000, and make this hostelry one of the finest and largest for a city of this size on the Pacific Coast.
    All this extensive work was accomplished without interfering with the taking care of the regular patronage of the hotel for a single hour or day, and the work was finished far ahead of the time set, June 1st, when the regular work was begun.
    The new floor is nicely arranged and splendidly furnished, all the beds, dressers, chairs and tables being of steel or two-tone mahogany. Some of the rooms are in suites.
Medford Mail Tribune, May 31, 1924, page 6


ANNEX TO HOTEL MEDFORD FORMALLY OPENED TO PUBLIC
    The new sixth-story addition to the Hotel Medford was formally opened to the public Friday afternoon by Emil Mohr. The improvement, entailing an expenditure of $55,000, was built to accommodate the tourist trade during the summer months, and is modern in every respect.
    The new addition has 27 rooms, making a total of 127 rooms in the hotel. The new annex quarters are all fitted with baths or shower baths, and the latest style furniture and accessories. A high-speed express elevator was also installed.
    The improvement gives the city one of the largest and most modern hostelries in the state.
    Over 200 visitors inspected the hotel Friday afternoon at an informal reception held by Mr. Mohr.
    Two lots adjoining the present structure have been purchased for further expansion in the near future.

Medford Mail Tribune, June 14, 1924, page 6


HUMAN FLY TO CLIMB TOMORROW
    Henry D. D. Roland, human fly and movie stunt performer, will climb up the outside walls of the Medford Hotel here tomorrow night at 7:30. He will start right on the sidewalk in front of the building and climb to the very top of the hotel using only his hands and feet. After reaching the highest point he will perform on tables and chairs piled one on top of the other in a spectacular manner, walk the edge of the building blindfolded and do trapeze acts under the cornice.
    Roland has been climbing buildings all over the United States for the past twelve years and has climbed the tallest buildings obtainable in every large city. His highest climb was on the L. C. Smith building in Seattle several years ago. The above mentioned building is 42 stories in height. Last Saturday he worked in Eureka, Cal., making two climbs before a crowd of nearly ten thousand people and according to newspaper clippings of the climb he more than made good his promise of thrilling the spectators.
    Roland is considered the most daring of human flies. He has doubled for several movie stars, and is the man that doubled for Harold Lloyd in his thrilling picture "Safety Last."
Medford Mail Tribune, April 11, 1927, page 3


HUMAN FLY TO CLIMB BUILDING TONIGHT AT 7:30
    The Medford Hotel is to be the stage for one of the greatest of all daredevil performances tonight at 7:30 when Henry Roland, the "Human Fly," will scale up its walls and cavort on the top of the hotel in a death-defying manner.
    Remember how you held onto the arms of your chair in the local theater until your fingers seemed numb while you were witnessing some of his daring feats while doubling for Harold Lloyd in "Safety Last." [Several daredevils claimed this distinction.] Tonight there shall be no seats to grip but there will be as many if not more thrills than in the picture when Roland begins his climb. He will start from the pavement and climb to the top of the hotel, using only his hands and feet until he reaches the cornice and at that point will swing out over the heads of the crowd in a trapeze, performing many stunts on the bars. After reaching the roof he will pile tables and chairs on top of each other and do balancing stunts on them that is considered an extremely dangerous act even on the stage and not on top of a building five stories in the air. He also has a variety of other breathtaking acts to perform that are sure thrillers, according to those that have seen them before.
    All arrangements have been completed; the city police will be on the job as usual to help handle the crowd, and large floodlights will be turned on the face of the hotel, affording ample light for everyone to witness the event.
Medford Mail Tribune, April 12, 1927, page 7


NEW AUTO PARKING FOR HOTEL MEDFORD
    A big improvement in the matter of convenience for guests is being installed by the Hotel Medford. Harry Hutton, lessee and manager, is having the large vacant lot immediately adjoining the hotel on the west, and which is a part of the hotel property, converted into a big parking place for the sole use of hotel guests.
    The big billboards which for several years had extended across the front of the lot on West Main Street have been rearranged at the sides of the lot, the surface of the 60-by-100-foot lot is being graveled and sanded, and on the west hotel wall a big light will illumine the lot all night. Entrance to the parking place will be from the alley back of the hotel. Hundreds of cars can be parked in the lot.
Medford Mail Tribune, June 26, 1928, page 8


STENOGRAPHER AT MEDFORD HOTEL
    For the convenience of its guests the Hotel Medford has installed a public stenographer and typist in its lobby, with Mrs. Minnie Hill Wood presiding.
    Mrs. Wood was connected with the publicity department of Crater National Park this past season, her news articles dealing with interesting sections of the park, having had a wide circulation in the newspapers. She was formerly on the staff of the Sunday Post of Boston, Mass., as a travel story writer, and of naval articles.
    "Afoot and Alone," a 385-page book descriptive of some of her tramps, was published several years ago by a Boston publishing house, and later she contributed editorials and other articles to California papers.
    Besides being a writer, stenographer and typist Mrs. Wood, whose home is in Larkspur, Marin County, Calif., is fond of pedestrianism, and her walking ability both as to speed and length of distance covered often astounds her friends. A favorite hike of hers last summer, whenever she found time, was to walk fast from the government camp headquarters building at Crater Lake Park up to the lodge at the rim, a mile distant, and return.
Medford Mail Tribune, October 17, 1930, page 6


MOHR, EMIL HENRY
Vice-President and Manager, Medford Hotel Company.
b. Medford, Oregon, January 19, 1913; son of Emil and Hedwig (Boettger) Mohr; educated University of Oregon; m. Berte Allen Crane of Medford, Oregon November 20, 1934; began as dishwasher and busboy, Crater Lake Lodge, Oregon; engineer, Hotel Medford 1934; steward and food buyer 1935; desk clerk 1936-37; manager since 1937; vice-president and manager since Nov. 1937; served U.S. Navy, World War II; director Jackson County Chamber of Commerce 1940 to date; president Southern Oregon Hotel Association 1939; vice-president Oregon State Hotel Association 1939; Republican; Presbyterian; address Hotel Medford, Medford
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Capitol's Who's Who for Oregon 1948-49, page 397



Last revised January 10, 2023