History of the Jamestown Hotel

The Jamestown Hotel was first built in 1858, but the structure was lost in a fire just a few years later in 1863. Another building was erected on the site and it too burned down in the early 1900’s. The building that stands today was built in 1919 by David Martinez. The hotel was known as the Spanish Hotel, as many of the Spanish miners lived here. The hotel remained a popular local spot through the 1920’s, but made the auction block and was sold during the Great Depression for non-payment of taxes. The exterior building was remodeled in the 1930’s with stucco and arches in the traditional Spanish style. In 1938, Dr. Donald Farrell converted the hotel into the Motherlode Hospital, with a morgue in the basement. It was during this time that the Hotel most likely obtained its famed ghost, Mary O’Sullivan, one of Dr. Farrell’s patients.

The hospital closed in the 1940’s after Dr. Farrell walked away from it when the war and closing of the mines forced him to move his practice. The hotel reopened in the 1950’s as the Motherlode Hotel, and then a few years later as the Carriage House Hotel. Charles Crocker and Hugh McClung became the hotel owners and refurbished the old hotel and restaurant in the 1970’s. They used San Francisco brick to update the exterior of the building. Mr. Crocker closed and sold the hotel a few years later. Michael and Marsha Walsh purchased the hotel in 1980 and performed a major restoration on the building. The paneled walls were decorated in wallpaper and solid oak frames were added to all doors and hallways. Brass chandeliers were added along with oak floors throughout and new carpeting surrounded the large solid oak bar. Michael and Marsha sold the hotel in 1995. After a short period in which the Hotel was closed, Charlie Morgan purchased the Jamestown Hotel and made it into what we see today.

In 2019, the hotel was purchased by the Chicken Ranch Economic Development Corporation. The hotel remains an excellent reminder of the glory and elegance of the by-gone Gold Rush era. The hotel, restaurant, and old-time bar beckons guests to visit and enjoy a step back in time to the slower days of yesteryear with all the luxury and comfort of modern living. .