Return to Reflections index page

From the Gowanda PennySaver News "Reflections" series compiled by Mary Pankow. issue date - September 14, 2003

c. 1930

Martin Hotel - Located on Jamestown Street adjacent to the Bank of Gowanda (Persia Town Hall) is the Martin Hotel, a three-story building featured a dining room, tap room and offering regular entertainment. Taylor and Beatrice (nee Crawford) Martin purchased the former Union House after 1914, renaming it the Martin Hotel. Taylor's nephew, Paul Martin, and his wife, Florence, take over ownership later on and provide rooms and meals to Gowanda visitors until 1946, when the establishment goes up in flames. Rumor has it that a guest smoking in bed falls asleep resulting in a deadly blaze that claims another guest's life. Five local fire companies respond to the fire alarm and, unable to subdue the flames on that early February morning, concentrate their efforts on nearby buildings, saving them from the same fate. Today, just a portion of the tap room remains at 17 Jamestown Street and is part of the two-story brick building, a former liquor store with an upstairs apartment.     Photo courtesy of the Gowanda Area Historical Society.