Ron Reiff
We wore green T-shirts and black ball caps with the letter E on them. It was my first baseball team uniform in 1959. I played for the EXCHANGE HOTEL.
We only won one game that season. The last one. I knew where the hotel was but that was it. The hotel stood on the South side of the 300 block of Pennsylvania Avenue-West for over 100 years.
Like the fire of 1956 at the Carver House, the construction of the building itself added to its destruction. The Exchange Hotel was indeed a key piece of Warren’s “Golden” era. From the 1860’s oil and timber era, Warren’s “Wall Street” district was a hub of activity. Businessmen from all over the nation converged on the flatiron building and the banks that lined the neighborhood.
The only hotel within walking distance was the Carver House. It was located on the corner of Hickory and Pennsylvania Avenue where Kwik Fill is today.
Long about the mid-1880’s the Exchange Club spearheaded investments to construct a competing hotel. By 1885 the Exchange Hotel housed travelers and served as a much closer venue for businessmen trying to make a buck in Warren. Getting from the railroad station to “Warren’s Wall Street” was an easy trolly or taxi ride away.
On Feb. 11, 1917, the Exchange Hotel should have been leveled. It was 20 below zero when firefighters managed to save the whole 300 block from burning to the ground. Renovations returned the Exchange and the neighboring businesses to service.
I just happened to be in town when the final fire did it in. Roy Schneck and I stood in the WRRN production studio watching the events of that morning unfold.
News footage from the fire:
Both of us thought that perhaps the building would withstand another blaze. Sadly the fire crews with help from multiple volunteer departments were unable to. The Pantaloon Saloon, Geoge’s Kitchen, Warren Sub Shop, and a long list of former businesses lost their historic spots.
Today the block looks a great deal like it originally did! I give a lot of credit to planners and builders for preserving the block. The hotel is gone but the spirit of free enterprise which was the foundation of the area is not!
