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On the quiet village green in the center of Saugatuck stands the Maplewood Hotel, a gleaming tribute to the 19th Century. Built in the 1860’s, during Michigan’s busy lumberman’s era, the Maplewood has served as a luxury resort hotel through most of its 135-year history. The hotel, constructed on the original site of the Burns & Whitney general store, was purchased by Edward S. Pride in the 1870’s. The structure was enlarged and utilized as a furniture store. Additional living quarters were added to the rear of the building. With the emergence of several local funeral parlors, Pride decided to transform the building into a lodging establishment thus the Maplewood Hotel functioned as a summer resort quasi boarding house. Following the death of Pride the hotel was sold to Frank and Carrie Wicks in 1923. “Their improvements transformed the Maplewood into a ‘grand hotel,’” wrote Saugatuck’s local paper, the Commercial Record. Frank Wicks served as Village president in the 1950’s and has been memorialized with the establishment of our riverfront park. Though the Wicks were of modest means, Frank secured the services of George W. Maher, a renowned Chicago architect who owned a summer home in neighboring Douglas. Maher, who is considered one of the important Prairie School style architects, blended aspects of traditional homes with the influence of European Arts & Crafts style. This influence was achieved by raising four twenty-five-foot columns at the front of the hotel, masking its prior colonial style with a more formal Greek Revival appearance. Though Maher is known to have built several family cottages in the area, the majority of his work was done in Evanston, Kenilworth, Oak Park, Illinois, and various neighborhoods in the city of Chicago. The European guest plan encouraged longer vacation stays and appealed to the visiting artist. On the local scene, the hotel dining room was a busy meeting place for many community functions and clubs such as the Rotary Club that met every Thursday. One notable artist who vacationed at the Maplewood Hotel was Albert H. Krehbiel. A product of the Chicago Art Institute, Krehbiel is best known for his Ten Mural Paintings displayed on the walls of the Illinois Supreme Court Building in Springfield. Krehbiel was an instructor at Ox-Bow summer camp and returned several winters to paint a series of winter landscapes of the Lake Michigan area. In 1945 the hotel was sold to Walter Simons from Chicago, who after one year sold the property to Bud Carr. Carr operated the hotel for ten years and then sold it to Lynn and Bobbie McCray during the 1950’s. During their ownership the hotel was the home of the local police dispatch, the bus station, and a sometime bakery. The many uses of the building made it prime for restoration when the next two owners, Scott Holford and Don Mitchell, appeared on the scene. Under their ownership massive projects were undertaken not only to restore the intrinsic charm of the building but to update utilities and fixtures as well. The hotel was on its way to being “grand” once again. The current owner, Catherine L. Simon, is a native of Chicago and Evanston, Illinois. Having raised two sons, Catherine left the health-care industry in 1990 to embark on a new venture – ownership of the Maplewood Hotel. Ms. Simon has continued to usher the Maplewood Hotel on the path of “grand elegance” by instituting many notable improvements. Though hard work, she admits it can be fun if you like what you are doing and enjoy meeting many interesting people. Ms. Simon has served on Saugatuck's City Council for ten years.
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