When thinking about Holyoke's oldest commercial district buildings, the north portion of High Street and Maple Street comes to mind. One of the older buildings that remains in that area is the former Czelusniak Funeral Home at 143-145 Maple Street, and its story begins with the Hadley Falls Company and the Samoset House.
The Samoset House opened for business on Monday, April 8, 1850. The building featured 50 hotel rooms for its guests. The Hampden Freeman described the hotel as "an elegant, quiet, and desirable place of rest."
The property at the time was owned by the Hadley Falls Company and was conveyed on July 1, 1850, to Jared W. Smith of Hartford, CT. The sales price recorded was $1,500.
The operation of the Samoset House itself was initially formed as a partnership with Robert G. Marsh and John H. White. However, that was soon dissolved, and Mr. Marsh became the sole proprietor on July 18, 1850.
In January 1851, a supper was held in the Samoset, where thirty people dined after a Masonic event. Within the same month, a sleigh ride from Chicopee Falls to Holyoke stopped at the Samoset House, where 108 people dined and danced.
Records from the Registry of Deeds indicated that Jared W. Smith sold the real estate on February 1, 1851, to Samuel and Harmony Hamilton, also from Hartford, CT. The sales price was $9,000. Another conveyance occurred on December 16, 1852, when the Hamiltons sold the real estate to Henry K. W. Welsh for $9,000. Eventually, on December 6, 1855, the property was purchased by Robert G. Marsh, who then owned both the real estate and business operation.
In 1856, Mr. Marsh sold the property back to Henry K.W. Welsh, and shortly thereafter, in 1857, Mr. Marsh placed an ad in the Springfield Republican seeking to rent out the hotel operation.
In April 1860, a part of the Samoset House functioned as a holding area for a defendant in a murder case. The defendant escaped by jumping out of the third-story window. He was captured in Springfield two days later.
On May 1, 1865, after the death of Mr. Marsh, the Samoset House was continued under the management of Whitehouse and Dickerman. Two years later, the management changed to Myron E. Green, who purchased the real estate from Reuben A. Chapman. There were quite a few real estate transactions involving this property to this point in its brief history.
The Samoset House continued to host many suppers during the late 1860s and 1870s, including the annual fireman's muster and parade, the St. Jean Baptiste organization, Hibernians, St. Jerome's Temperance Society, and other charitable fundraisers.
Charles H. Hatfield became the new lessee of the Samoset House on May 1, 1873. Twenty-six days later, a fire that started in John C. Doran's livery stable behind the hotel spread quickly to the hotel. Both Mr. Green, the real estate owner, and C. H. Hatfield, the lessee, were insured. Amazingly, the Samoset House reopened on June 3, 1873. A brick livery stable was built to replace the destroyed wooden structure behind the building.
The hotel was extensively remodeled by Mr. Hatfield in 1874.
In 1877, the hotel's stock, lease, and fixtures were advertised for sale. S.J. Hobbs was shown in the City Directory as the hotel's proprietor from 1879 to 1885, and A. R. Avery in 1886 and 1887.
The contents within the Samosett House were sold at auction in 1887. This was the end of the hotel operation.
Myron E. Green, the twenty-year owner of the real estate, sold the property to Mary Moriarty in August 1888. In November of that year, the building was renamed Hampden Flats and converted into a tenement building. The street level was rented to a carpentry and furniture repair shop in 1890, and to a meat and provisions market in 1893.
In 1894, James P. Hobert opened his funeral home at this location. He was a long-time life insurance salesman and had learned the undertaking profession working for the T. F. Ryan Funeral Home at 135 High Street.
Citations:
Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican; Pittsfield (Massachusetts) Sun; publication dates and pages are shown.
Holyoke - Chicopee A Perspective, Ella Merkel Dicarlo, Publisher, Transcript-Telegram, Holyoke, Massachusetts, 1982
Picturesque Hampden, Charles F. Warner (Charles Forbes), Publisher, Picturesque Publishing Co., Northampton, Massachusetts, 1891
Ancestry.com (paid subscription), Price & Lee City Directories, Holyoke, Massachusetts.
Assessors' Office, City of Holyoke, Massachusetts
MACRIS, Massachusetts Cultural Research Information System
Registry of Deeds, Hampden County, Springfield, Massachusetts
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