The Tedmon House was a hotel that stood on the north corner of Jefferson and Linden.
The Tedmon House was started in 1879 and completed in the early part of 1880. It was the largest and nicest hotel north of Denver at time. The Tedmon House on Linden and Jefferson Street, was built and owned by Bolivar S. Tedmon and was the pride of Fort Collins. The first three-story brick building in Fort Collins featured a ladies parlor, a barbershop, a bar, and a bathroom on every floor. Every room was connected to the office by an electric bell. Rates were $2 to $2.50 a day and the customers were given free shuttle service to the railroad depot. It was demolished in 1910 to make way for the Union Pacific buildings. The Tedmons ran the hotel for a year and then sold it to George S. Brown.
The Tedmon family went to New York after they sold the hotel but returned to Fort Collins to make their home here until they died – she was 86 and he was 88.
Visitors to the Tedmon House were of a wide array. The first murder in Fort Collins involved one of the Tedmon House employees. In 1881 Tex Lindeville shot and killed Albert Sherwood, a black cook who worked at the Tedmon House. Lindeville pleaded self-defense and was acquitted.
In 1902 livery stables had not been replaced by automobile dealers, garages and gasoline station in Fort Collins. The 1902 city directory listed the Mansion stables at 302 Jefferson Street, the Sterick bar at 363 Jefferson and Mountain Avenue stables at 127 to 131 East Mountain Avenue. They were strategically located within walking distance of the Tedmon Hotel at Linden and Jefferson Streets so that travelers would have a place to leave their horses.
On March 14, 1904 Princess Sheroda, the East India Princess, palmist, clairvoyant, card reader and trance medium was at the Tedmon House for one week. “Ladies can visit her without the least fear of unpleasant surroundings and gentlemen will not lose their self respect by paying her a call.”
Two days later, the Honorable John F. Shafroth of Denver, former member of Congress from the First Congressional District registered at the Tedmon. He had been retained by several Cache La Poudre ditch companies to contest the demand of Logan and Morgan Companies for water for direct irrigation.
On August 21, 1909 the Tedmon House went out of business. Meal service stopped on the last day of July but roomers were accommodated an additional 3 weeks. The new owners of the property were the Union Pacific.
Other Early Fort Collins Hotels:
- First Fort Collins Hotel … The first hotel in Fort Collins was known as the Pioneer Cabin. It was used by the Pioneer organizations for their meetings and dances. The cabin was built in 1864 by Judge Lewis Stone to be used as a mess hall for the officers then located at Camp Collins, later named Fort Collins. It was built in the 300 block on Jefferson Street, facing north. After Mr. Stone died, his widow, known as Aunty Stone, fed the officers until they left the camp and then in the words of Ansel Watrous, “Aunty Stone threw the mess hall open to the public as a hotel. Mrs. Stone sold the cabin to Marcus Coon in 1873 and he moved it to the back of the Agricultural Hotel – to be used as a kitchen and laundry. After the Agricultural Hotel was moved the Pioneer Cabin was made into a home for Mr. and Mrs. James F. Vandewark. The cabin was covered with siding, painted white and had a white picket fence around it.
- In 1870 the Blake House was built by George G. Blake who served as one of the town’s early trustees for several terms. Mr. And Mrs. Blake’s daughter Louella, married Joseph Mason, prominent pioneer in 1870 and after his death married Judge L.R. Rhoades. Harry Conly was proprietor of the hotel in 1871. It was in the 200 block of Jefferson Street and faced south. It had the traditional two front porches and was a large frame building. Across the street was the Old Grout building, which Mr. Mason and Major Asaph Allen built in 1865. The Blake House was one of the hotels which was torn down to make way for the Union Pacific.
- Marcus Coon built Agricultural Hotel at the corner of West Mountain Avenue and Mason Street in 1873. This was a large frame hotel. It was later purchased by D.M. Harris in 1877 and he changed the name to the Commercial Hotel. He later moved it to the corner of Walnut Street and North College Avenue. After Mr. Harris became ill, Mr. Howard and his wife took charge of the hotel. Mrs. Harris died in September 1904 and a group of Fort Collins men bought the hotel and built the Northern Hotel on the corner.
- Blaine Hotel, a small hotel built on Pine Street by Isaac B. Harris who came to Fort Collins in 1880.
- Cottage House, was another pioneer hotel which had to give way to the Union Pacific, also on Jefferson Street. It was built before 1868 and John Tingle ran the hotel. Later Frank Campbell and his sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Rich ran the hotel and made many improvements. It had two porches which extended to the street. It was a large frame house and even into the 1900s was a very popular place. Many of the students who came to A&M College in those days stayed at the hotel until they found a permanent location for the school year.
- The Poudre Valley Hotel was located in what was first known as the Yount Block. This block was on Linden and Jefferson Streets. It was built by Mr. and Mrs. A.K. Yount, who had their bank on the northwest corner. The year was 1873. There were offices on the second floor and stores on the first until 1896, when Joseph W. Mefford leased the upstairs and part of the first floor and started the Poudre Valley Hotel. The office, dining room, parlor and kitchen were on the first floor and the bedrooms on the second, twenty of them in total. There were large heating stoves on the first floors and two on the second. The bedroom doors in those days had transoms above them for ventilation and circulation of heat. Each room contained a wash stand holding a washbowl and a pitcher of water. These had to be cleaned and filled every day and would and coal had to be hauled upstairs for the stoves. An assortment of people owned the building and for a while Mrs. J.S. Mosman owned the building and it was known as the Mosman Block.
- Antlers Hotel – In 1902 the Reverend Father Joseph LaJeuness built the Antlers Hotel in the block just south of the Poudre Valley Hotel. He was the priest at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church for a number of years. The hotel was at 224 Linden Street and had 38 rooms.
- Peck’s Rooming House – Built in 1873, the hotel changed names many times (Mr and Mrs. T.Q. Tenney took over in 1895). The stone three-story hotel, with 26 rooms and two bathrooms was also called the City Hotel, Collins House, Old Stone Hotel and the Blue Hotel. The latter was because some one painted the stone front a slate blue.
- The Linden Hotel was on the upper floor of the Poudre Valley Bank Block, corner of Linden and Walnut Streets. This block was built in 1878 and the Poudre Valley Bank moved into it from their original place farther north on Linden Street. The bank was on the southeast corner and A.A. Edwards and J.T. Budrow had their abstract, loan and insurance office on the southwest corner. The office for the hotel was between the two. There were 95 rooms in the hotel. The third floor was used as sample rooms for the salesmen who stopped there.
- The Northern Hotel. A group of energetic men bought the Commercial Hotel, tore most of it down and erected the large Northern Hotel at the corner of Walnut and North College Avenue. It was a three storied brick, with a balcony over the front entrance. The men who built this hotel in 1904 were Sam Clammer (who was active in real estate at the age of 80 and was a former mayor of Fort Collins), C.R. Welch, F.C. Avery, George W. Bailey, Dr. P.J. McHugh, and James VandeWark. The hotel was later purchased by Barry Cahill and he remodeled it and added another story to the hotel. The hotel had 105 rooms, a mezzanine floor, large banquet room, dining room, office, coffee shop, reception room and up-to-date kitchen.