Allen County, Indiana Genealogy

1921 - Stories of Old Ft. Wayne - No. 12 by B. J. Griswold - Aveline Hotel

Article from Jul 10, 1921 The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, Indiana) Aveline hotel, Griswold, Old fort wayne

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1921 - Stories of Old Ft. Wayne - No. 12 by B. J. Griswold - Aveline Hotel The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Sunday, July 10, 1921, page 22.

STORIES OF OLD FT. WAYNE - NO. 12 BY B. J. GRISWOLD

THE ORIGINAL AVELINE HOTEL

A Beautiful Hotel Without Auy Furniture

At one time, Port Wayne had a "beautiful" new hotel, which couldn't open for business because the owner found it impossible to get the money to buy the needed furniture. Thus it lay for some time But when it did start on its career it continued for nearly half a century of real service. To many people of today, the Avellne will be renembered only as the scene of this city's greatest holocaust when on the early morning of Sunday, May 3 1909. It waa destroyed by fire of unknown origin, claiming twelve men and women as its victims.

The illustration shows the hotel as it looked orignally aa built by Frances Aveline during the year 1860, 1861 and 1862. For a period of forty -five years the Avellne was Fort Wayne's leading hotel. It stood on the site of the Shoaff building at the southwest corner of Calhoun and Berry streets.

The Aveline hotel was built after three year of effort to secure financial support. Originally, it wa a four story brick structure, tha largest hotel in this region. D. J. Silver was tha builder and contractor. In January, 1863, the hotel waa finished, but the proprietor found himself embarrassed by conditions which are revealed in the comment of one of the newspapers of tha day which observed that "this house, now finished remains unopened for want of means to furnish it. This being so, are there no moneyed men here to aid in the opening? The edifice is a credit to the city and without being opened is only a thing if beauty. The situation was relieved by the substantial assistance of public-spirited citizens and the hotel was opened with a grand banquet later in the year. One of the toasts of the evening bore the title, "Washington Hall (the first tavern) and the Aveline House-- the First Represented the Primitive Condition of the City, and Latter Our Present Growth and Prosperity."

The Aveline entertained some of Americas most noted people during the near half-century of its existence.

France Aveline waa born in Vincennes, Indiana, in 1814, and came to Fort Wayne in 1820, with his parent Mr and Mrs. James Avellne. With Francis Comparet, he built the reservoir which today is known as Sylvan Lake, at Rome City, originally intended to serve as a storage reservoir for water to supply Fort Wayne-to-Lake Michigan canal. He was the contractor and buiider of many of tne larger pioneer buildings of Fort Wayne. His death in 1865 followed a period of intense grief over the loss of his son, Frank Aveline, who was killed in the Chattanooga campaign in the civil war.

The hotel was built in 1863 at the southeast corner of Calhoun and Berry streets by Francis Aveline.  A fire on May 3, 1908 killed 12 people. The main entrance was on Berry Street with a Ladies Entrance on Calhoun Street. From Death of the Aveline House by Kevin Leininger from theCityscapes - People & Places series of articles from the archives of The News-Sentinel newspaper. See the Aveline Family.

1. Early on the morning of May 3, 1908, a fire of unknown origin destroyed the Aveline hotel at the southeast corner of Calhoun and Berry streets. Twelve persons lost their lives. Many guests of the upper floors were saved b,y leaping from windows or making their way to the roofs of adjoining structures. The site is now occupied by the Shoaff building. Copied from page 541 in the online book The pictorial history of Fort Wayne, Indiana : a review of two centuries of occupation of the region about the head of the Maumee River Volume 1 by Griswold, B. J. (Bert Joseph), 1873-1927; Taylor, Samuel R., Mrs, Publication date: 1917 on Archive.org on Archive.org.
2. The hotel underwent many name changes over the years but ultimately kept the Aveline name from ‘For God's sake … get out!' 100 years pass since fire guts Aveline hotel by Kim Metzger published May 1, 2008 in The Journal Gazette newspaper now on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
3. Score Die in Fire in Indiana Hotel in the Morris County Chronicle newspaper Tuesday, May 5, 1908 on Chronicling America newspaper archive at the The Library of Congress.
4. 11 DIE IN FIRE IN INDIANA HOTEL; Three Thought to be in Ruins of New Aveline at Fort Wayne. MANY THRILLING ESCAPES J.C. Yingling Climbed Down Five Stories on a Wire, Losing $2,500 in Diamonds. May 4, 1908 in The New York Times archives.
5. Eight Aveline Hotel photos at the History Center Digital Collection on the mDON mastodon Digital Object Network.
6. Two Aveline Hotel fire photos at the The Indiana Album.

7. One image of nearly 50 Aveline Hotel search results in the Allen County Public Library Digital Collections at the Allen County Public Libraryposted January 23, 2014 by Downtown Fort Wayne on Facebook:

   #ThrowbackThursdays in downtown Fort Wayne featuring a photo from May 3, 1908. This photo was taken after the fire at Aveline Hotel that used to stand at the corner of Berry St. and S. Calhoun St. Eleven people died in the fire. #TBT

    

   Another posted September 11, 2014 by Downtown Fort Wayne on Facebook.

8. May 3, 2017 post by Allen County Public Library on Facebook:

   On this day in 1908 Fort Wayne's Aveline Hotel burned, killing 12 people. "In its day, the Aveline House was the city's most elegant hotel. In the end, it was the city's most elegant deathtrap." It was on the southeast corner of Calhoun and Berry streets and was built in the 1860s with a fifth floor added in the 1880s. Read more from the archives of The News-Sentinel Death of the Aveline House.

9. ARCH’s 2023 Fun & Free Lecture Series will present the final lecture in the five-topic series to fans of our community’s...

   Posted by ARCH, Inc. on Thursday, May 4, 2023

   Thursday, May 4, 2023 post by ARCH, Inc. on Facebook:

   ARCH’s 2023 Fun & Free Lecture Series will present the final lecture in the five-topic series to fans of our community’s built heritage at Cinema Center’s Spectator Lounge May 20.

   Saturday, May 20, Karen Richards presents a lecture on Fort Wayne’s downtown hotels. Our city has a rich history of hotels both lavish and otherwise. She will tell the hotels’ stories and share historic images that show what life was like during the heyday of hotels in downtown Fort Wayne, including the story of the Aveline Hotel which tragically burned in 1908.

   The lecture will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Spectator Lounge at Cinema Center, 347 E. Berry St., Fort Wayne. Free parking is available across Clay Street. ARCH records each lecture presentation and posts the recordings on its website.

   For more information, email to archfortwayne@gmail.com or by phone at (260) 426-5117.

    

   Local historian checks into the story of city’s rich hotel history Julia Meek 89.1 WBOI Northeast Indiana Public Radio

    

10. September 8, 2023 post by the Genealogy Center on Facebook:

    Check out these pen and ink drawings including the 1861 Allen County Courthouse, Colerick's Hall, and the Aveline Hotel in Fort Wayne!

    These images come from the Bert J. Griswold Collection in our Community Album. Check out the collection here: http://contentdm.acpl.lib.in.us/.../collection/p16089coll59 [see links to his online books on our B.J. Griswold section]

    Bert J. Griswold was born in 1873 in Osage, Iowa, and died in Fort Wayne in 1927. A gifted illustrator and cartoonist, he came to Fort Wayne in 1902, working for the Fort Wayne Daily News and the Fort Wayne Sentinel. He later left the newspaper to establish his own advertising agency. In the course of his work as a reporter and cartoonist, he developed a deep interest in the history of Fort Wayne and Allen County. He also became a prominent advocate for the City Beautiful Movement, which worked for the establishment of local parks and boulevard improvements. Griswold wrote short columns for the newspaper about area pioneers and historic buildings, and his efforts culminated in 1917 in the publication of the two-volume Pictorial History of Fort Wayne.

Postcard discussion February 15, 2023 on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook.

What is the connection with this haunted Aveline house?

1915 - School Teachers to Brave Horrors of Haunted House

Article from Oct 30, 1915 Fort Wayne Daily News (Fort Wayne, Indiana) Teachers, Haunted house, Bloomingdale school

1915 - School Teachers to Brave Horrors of Haunted House Fort Wayne Daily News, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Saturday, October 30, 1915, Page 1.

SCHOOL TEACHERS TO BRAVE HORRORS OF HAUNTED HOUSE

Silence! Not a word! "Tis the hour when the witches are about. And this is their rendezvous. It is the "haunted" house.

Something like above is supposed to express the feeling trepidation which twenty young school teachers are supposed to feel this Saturday night as they enter the old house on the Leo road for a Halloween party and for the purpose finding and accosting the spirit which is supposed to have cast its spell over the structure. The teachers are young ladies from the Bloomingdale public school and will be accompanied by their principal, Miss Margaret MePhall. The house belongs to the family of Miss MePhall. The teachers spent a happy time together last summer at Lake James, and to renew their good time once more in a social way they have accepted Miss McPhall's invitation to enjoy themselves together in a Hallowe'en celébration in the historic residence on the Leo road.

The house is an old one, dating back to Fort Wayne's early days, and was formerly occupied by the first citizens of the town. The house was first owned by Mr. Aveline, and used as a private residence. This was as early as sixty or seventy years ago. It later became tavern or inn, so familiar in the history of that time and was used for a meeting place for various organizations. It was about this time, when the country was infested with horsethieves and general lawbreakers of all kinds, that the ancient dwelling became the headquarters of an organzation for the apprehension of thieves and the protection of citizens. The members of the organization were known as "regulators" and many a session they held in the historic house. It was here that one of the regulators was killed, and since that time the house has been haunted, so they say. [ See Aveline family an early area famly of fur traders or Aveline Hotel ]

And why should there be any doubt about it? Is it not in strict accord with the traditions that have been handed down to us by our grandmothers on Hallowe'en that the scene of such a murder shall be frequently visited by the spirit of the victim? And have not strange sights been seen and strange sounds heard time and again in the old relic-ridden house? Yes, it is shrouded in mystery and the old doors never creak on their hinges but to send the visage of a ghost flitting across its ancient corridors thus it is whispered about.

But Fort Wayne's, "haunted house" has probably been the scene of more gala occasions than grewsome ones. In the days when it was used as a tavern, It was the rendezvous for oyster suppers and parties in general. The young society people of the town would run out to the little inn to enjoy a merry evening, and in the winter it was a favorite stopping place for sleighing parties, where there was a redhot fire in the old box' stove and good hot things to eat.

After the house had outgrown its use as a tavern it was rented by private families and was so occupied until a few months ago. It is now owned by Mra. J, A. McPhall.

And so the old house will be the scene of another party tonight which promises to do credit to those of oyster-supper fame of the days gone by. To hold a party within the confines of the walls about which many a fascinating yarn has been told and to investigate the "ghost" stories as a Halloween lark appeals to the spirit of the fun-loving teachers. Thus, afraid and undaunted, they will hie to the scene of Fort Wayne's haunted house tonight, and the erstwhile tavern, famous for its one-time occasions. will once more contain a big, happy crowd, having a big happy time with games and stunts befitting the Halloween occasion.

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