Also known as: Tremont Hotel
Work was commenced on Crowley & Ryan’s Hotel, on the corner of Third street and Alpha avenue. It will be a good one. (Grand Forks Daily Herald, Wednesday Morning, April 12, 1882, Volume 1, Number 139, Page 4)
Ryan & Crowley are completing their hotel on the corner of Third street and Alpha avenue. It fronts fifty feet on Third and sixty on Alpha, with an addition 24×30 for a kitchen. Will cost $6,000. (Grand Forks Daily Herald, Saturday, June 24, 1882, Page 1)
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Commercial Hotel. This first-class hotel is located on Third street, at the intersection of Alpha avenue, near the business center of Grand Forks. The house is new throughout, having been erected the past spring by the proprietors, Messrs. Ryan & Crowley, expressly with the view of its adaptation to its present purposes. The building has a frontage of 50 feet on Third street, by a depth of 70 feet, with a large kitchen in the rear. The office and sample room are each 24×22 feet, while the dining-room is 24×42 feet. The house is two stories high, with a mansard roof, and contains 32 elegantly furnished bedrooms. The proprietors, understanding that comfortable sleeping apartments and good meals are no less requisite to the success of their hotel than a new house and furniture, have devoted themselves specially to these matters, and having had a long experience in hotel keeping, as the proprietors
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of the Red River Valley House, they have succeeded in at once placing their house in the front rank among the hostelries of Grand Forks. Mr. H. P. Ryan is from Ottawa, Canada, and Mr. C. Crowley from New York. The former came here some two years ago, and was shortly followed by his partner. (brochure on the history of Grand Forks, microfilm, personal collection, donated to Chester Fritz Library Department of Special Collections)
COMMERCIAL, Ryan & Crowley, props., 24 North Third. (Grand Forks and North Dakota Manual for 1885, William L. Dudley, Plaindealer Book and Job Rooms, 1885, Page 118)
FORMAL OPENING OF THE COMMERCIAL HOTEL.
A Brilliant Feast and a Happy Time. Formally Opened. In response to the invitations at the Commercial Hotel last evening to participate in the festivities of the grand opening by the new proprietors, Grant & Bartsch. At about 10 o’clock dancing was commenced in the large dining room which was decorated with flags and branches and presented a beautiful site. The music was furnished by Race’s orchestra, Gen. Durant and Capt. Maloney, alternately calling the figures. The merry party kept up the giddy dance till about 12:30 when master of ceremonies, M. A. Walsh, in behalf of the proprietors, requested the guests to retire to the cozy parlor of the hotel, and the dining hall was quickly filled with tables laden with an elegant feast of every variety of meats and fowls, breads, cakes, ice cream, etc. After having spent an hour in thus pleasantly passing away the time the guests again retired to the parlor while the dining room was cleared of the tables so as to allow the dance to continue, which was kept up until about 3 o’clock, when all the guests with seeming regret that the time had passed so quickly, bade the kind and respected hosts and hostess a kind good night and all expressed themselves as highly delighted and hoped that the time would come again when another party would be given by the proprietors of this popular hotel. (Grand Forks Daily Herald, Saturday Evening, August 7, 1886, Volume 10, Number 84, Page 1)
And what has been said of the Griggs, is equally true of the Commercial, of which Mr. Gifford is also the proprietor. The Commercial is a block further from the depot and at the same time the Commercial is within about two blocks of the post office, opera house, court house, and other public buildings. The same care is given to the cuisine and other service of the house as at the Griggs, and the traveler who stops at either the Griggs or the Commercial will have no occasion to seek better accommodations, and while the service is first class the rates are only $1.25 per day. (City of Grand Forks Illustrated, William L. Dudley, The Herald, Printers and Binders, Grand Forks, 1897, Page 65)