The disastrous fire of October 1, 1889 destroyed many residences and some of downtown Grand Haven, as it moved primarily to the north and east from Third Street and Washington. Cutler lost both his hotel and home. About 50 other businesses and homes were wiped out in the five-block area covered by the fire. The citizens of Grand Haven began immediately to rebuild, and a second smaller, less ornate Cutler House [the “New Cutler House”] rose from the ashes in 1890 and opened on September 1, 1891 . it was an L-shaped building, having frontage of 150 feet on Washington Street and 128 feet on Third Street . On the Third Street side there was a broad, sheltered veranda 76 feet long, which served as a cool, shady promenade or resting place in the summer. The Western Union office was here, and the lobby was furnished with easy chairs and many potted plants. The dining room was furnished in oak and seated 150 guests. In the basement there were sample rooms, a barbershop, bathrooms, and a first-class café. While not as ornamental and elaborate as the Cutler House, it represented all that was the best and most progressive in the hotel world of the day. When the hotel reopened, the Andres Brothers were proprietors. The rates then were $2.00 to $3.00 a day. The dining room was thoroughly ventilated, well lighted, cool in the summer and warm in winter, with tasteful decorations, snowy linen, sparkling glassware, and shining silver, together with neat, attractive, and obliging waitresses. The upper part of the building was reached by a broad, massive oak staircase. The bedrooms were furnished in cherry and oak, with Brussels , Axminster, and velvet carpets. The cuisine was managed with an eye to provide the best foods the market afforded, with every luxury and delicacy obtainable during all seasons. The hotel had electric and gaslights, an electric call bell system, and steam heat and open fires for winter comfort. In the summer months, an excellent orchestra played both popular and classical music throughout the day and evening. The hotel closed permanently about 1914, when Beaudry’s Department Store opened at this corner site.

Gildner Hotel circa 1900

SE corner of Washington & Water (now called Harbor) Streets

Rev. Ferry’s house, the first building at the southeast corner of Washington and Harbor [ Lot 23], burned down in February, 1866. Ed Killean and Thomas W. Kirby built the Kirby House on the same lot in 1873 at a cost of $50,000. W. G. Sherman, the manager, also ran the Cutler House. From 1900 to 1931 it was known as the Gildner, between 1931 and 1947 it was the Ferry, and for the next 18 years it was the Schuler. In 1965 the owner, Win Schuler, removed the third floor and converted the business into a restaurant.

Spring Lake Hotel circa 1910

The discovery of magnetic waters in 1870 led to the development of the Spring Lake House, located roughly between Cutler and Rex and north of Liberty Street , and extending to the shores of Spring Lake . [600 West Liberty , Block 2 of the original plat]. Just to the west was the Cutler and Savidge Sawmill. The hotel, which costs $70,000 to build in 1871, consisted of 74 rooms, with another 30 rooms in adjoining cottages, providing room for 250 guests. Bowling and billiards were also offered. The grounds were made attractive by the addition of fountains, flowers, shade trees, and a well-trimmed lawn. The bathhouse, built over the spring, was nearby. Owners claimed “Bathing in this water is a luxury. It is perfectly cleansing without soap, and remarkably strengthening.” However, a letter printed in a Grand Haven newspaper on July 4, 1872 , shed a different light: “Your correspondent visited the famous Spring Lake well a few days since, swallowed some goblets of the brackish water which is pumped out of the bowels of the earth for the healing of Spring Lakers. They seem to consider it a solemn duty to drink large quantities of the stuff and to insist that they like it. Most of them get so they can swallow it without making faces, but all look very serious as they gulp down the slightly salty, insipid liquid.” [“The Saratoga of the West,” by John Dryhout, Quarterly Journal of the Great Lakes Historical Society, Fall, 1964.] The Savidge family was the primary owner of the resort. In 1880 fifty new rooms were added. An announcement that year alerted potential guests, “This Charming Summer Resort, one of the most delightful in the Northwest, is situated two miles from Grand Haven, from whence, as well as from Chicago, it is easy of access, either by rail or water. The Tourist has every attraction and amusement afforded – pure air, fine scenery, Fishing, Rowing, Sailing, Steamboating, Hunting, Etc.”  The flyer added that Dr. Cyril P. Brown was in attendance and that Captain Jonathan Soule would meet the boats in Grand Haven and take passengers to and from the hotel.  In the early 1900s Edwin C. Dyer bought the resort and managed it.  The hotel was destroyed by fire on June 16, 1916 .

Magnetic Mineral Springs & Sanitarium on the NW corner of Washington & Third Streets

In 1871 Willard C. Sheldon discovered mineral waters at a depth of 160 feet near the northwest corner of Washington and Third Streets in Grand Haven. The Springs soon attracted the attention of thousands of visitors, and claims were made for many wonderful cures. A two-story, 100’ by 50’ building was constructed to house the many visitors, and the grounds were laid out with shade trees and shrubs, and croquet, archery, and a bowling were offered to visitors. Referred to as Magnetic Mineral Springs and Sanitarium the resort offered a variety of baths, hot and cold, also were available. “Doc” Red Graves [Greaves], a former slave, and his wife, Susan, were hired to give massages and provide other services to the guests. In June, 1881, a Philadelphia physician named W. Paine organized the World’s Sanitarium and Magnetic Mineral Springs and Laboratory on property belonging to Dwight Cutler. His Cutler House was opposite the Springs. The two-story Sanitarium was 100 by 50 feet in dimension. The mineral water was pumped from an artesian well in the basement. Beginning in about 1890 the resort was called the Norris, and was managed by Agnes Smallman. Eventually the spa merged with the Cutler House, which had been destroyed by the devastating fire of 1889 and rebuilt soon after. It was then referred to as the Cutler Annex.