DELPHOS — When the Miami-Erie Canal and the railroad were the area’s primary avenues of transportation, Delphos saw a large number of visitors. Within walking distance of the canal and a nearby train station, “5-star” accommodations were created for the wealthier of guests. The former Phelan Hotel put Delphos “on the map” during the hospitality industry’s early days.
The building known today as Lehmann’s Furniture on the corner of Main and Second streets has a long and rich history. It will be showcased Wednesday during the Delphos Rotary Club Senior Walking Tour for both local high schools’ Class of 2009.
The hotel was opened in 1881 by J.F. McShane. The Delphos Herald printed that April that the Phelan House, as it was known then, was named after McShane’s father-in-law, the late Peter Phelan, who was a local businessman.
According to local historian Bob Holdgreve, the hotel had 40 sleeping rooms. Each included a full marble top, oil-finished dressing case, a wash-stand of the same finish and two upholstered chairs. The floors were carpeted and included two windows. The main parlor was furnished with carpet and plush chairs of elaborate workmanship. The dining room was referred to as a “model of elegance” with silverware from a jeweler named Fred Krift. An intercom system connected all rooms with the office, making the hotel one of the finest in the country at the time.
The business was managed by John Roby and his wife. Checkout was at 3 p.m. and the rate was $3 for a double room and $2 for a single room. Bathrooms were centrally located and shared by those who were staying on the respective floor. If there were visitors, they did not come to a room, according to custom. They were shown to the main parlor room and the hotel guest would meet them there, where a balcony was once perched over what is now the main entrance from Second Street.
Marthanne Lehmann describes how the layout compared to current design.
“The building still has the original woodwork, railing and stairway. In the room just off of the office and lobby, you can see the metal they used for the walls; the ceilings have the same metal. The hotel lobby is where the furniture store office now is. The hotel entrance is across from the post office and the original door is still being used. From the street, you can see the original windows that hotel visitors looked out from their rooms,” she said.
The small room immediately to the south, when one enters from Main Street, is where the registration desk was. Just to the east, there is a marble sink or water fountain in the wall that was used by hotel guests and employees.
Lehmann describes more of the arrangements visitors encountered in the 1880s.
“There were two large bathrooms on each of the second and third floors. One was used by the men and one by the women; they are located just south of the main stairway. We are currently using one of the rooms to house the furnace on the second floor and to gain access to the elevator, you go through the other bathroom,” she said.
The Second Street entrance was the front door to a diner in the building’s early days.
“The restaurant was called the Point Cafe and was later renamed The Coffee Cup. The sign is hanging in the museum,” she said.
Lehmann says the eatery was not the only business adjacent to the hotel.
“The basement was a barber shop. Diane Sterling told me her grandfather, Carl Limbrecht, was a barber there. In the 1950s, Red Sterling was the barber,” she said.
The building underwent ownership changes before the Lehmann family took it over. According to Lehmann, a man named Joseph Fortener took it over in the early 1920s and sold it to George Bear later in that decade. Morris Lehmann bought the building in 1956 and operated the hotel until they turned the facility in to a furniture store in 1959.
The building survived a fire in 1961, which damaged the rear portion. It also survived another fire on Easter weekend 1998.