Monticello Hotel (Longview)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Monticello Hotel is a hotel and apartment building in Longview, Washington. It was given to the city by founder R. A. Long in the early 1920s.

Early photographs seen in Longview indicate its original name was "Hotel Monticello," and the large sign on the roof was rearranged when the name was changed. Several other hotels named Hotel Monticello exist in the Washington, DC, area. The Hotel in Longview is probably named after the historic "Monitcello Memorial" document, signed in the tiny settlement of Monticello, Oregon Territory at the time, near the site of the Hotel, petitioning the US Congress to grant the residents north of the Columbia River a separate territory, which ultimately led to the establishment of Washington Territory and Washington State. Monticello itself is a reference to Thomas Jefferson's estate in Virginia.

The building contains an intact original lobby area with dark hardwood paneling, above which are a series of oil paintings by Joe Knowles depicting the early years of European invasion of western North America, including depictions of the Marcus Whitman expedition rafting the lower Columbia River and portraits of many early Euro-American notables such as John McLaughlin of the Hudson's Bay Company.

Today the Hotel is mostly occupied by businesses and apartments; only a few rooms remain available to travelers and are expensive suites. Adjacent to the Hotel is a Motel that appears to be from the 1940s or 50s with minimal, inexpensive rooms. There is a restaurant and ballroom in the main Hotel building, and the ballroom contains one of the original chandeliers but otherwise has been remodeled. Much of the Hotel's business today seems to be from functions in its ballroom.

External links:

• [1] Website of the Monticello Hotel in Longview.
• [2] The story of Joe Knowles, artist and "nature man."
• [3] American Heritage calls Joe Knowles "YANKEE TARZAN."