Park Hotel and Cabins

About this property

The Park Hotel and Cabins is a hotel complex located at 11137 County Road LLK in Republic, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. John Consul (John Konsulakis) was born in Melabas Crete in 1887; when he was 19, he immigrated to the United States and settled in New York City. There he learned the trade of chef, and was then recruited to be a chef in other locations, first at Mackinac Island and then at the Douglass House in Houghton, Michigan. In Houghton, he met and married Esther Byttyla, a native of Republic. The Consuls soon moved to Chicago, where John Consul worked to start up a new restaurant for a prominent hotel chain (including the Palmer House). As the chain started hotels in various locations, the Consuls moved around the country, saving money with the intention of starting their own restaurant. However, the Great Depression intervened, wiping out the Consuls' savings. In 1930, they moved to Esther's hometown of Republic, and opened the Highway Lunch Restaurant on a shoestring. At that time, M-95 ran through Republic, and the restaurant was visible from the highway. When Prohibition was repealed, the Consuls changed the restaurant's name to the Pine Grove and then began a bar and night club. In 1939 they moved across the highway to a location near the Michigamme River. In 1941, John Consul bought the land from Bert Anderson near the Michigamme River that the hotel now stands on. Consul began work on improving the property, and in 1943 started building the hotel. The Park Hotel opened in 1946, although some of the cabins had not yet been completed. The Consuls asked their eldest of eight daughters, Marcella and her husband Albert Schrader to run the hotel; the Schraders moved into the first floor of the hotel. John Consul continued working on constructing more cabins and a house on the property; however, construction stopped when he died in December 1948 at the age of 61. The Schraders continued to run the hotel until Al's death in 1962. After that, Marcella ran the hotel until her death in 1969. The Schrader's son Jon ran the hotel after that until the early 1970s, when M-95 was relocated to bypass the town. Jon Schrader closed up the hotel and moved to Florida. A lessee operated the hotel until about 1980, when it was closed permanently. The hotel was vacant until 1988, when Georgean and Nancy Perry purchased it with the intention of reopening it as a hotel. They did no work until 1998, when Nancy sold her portion to Georgean, who moved with her husband Melvin Perry into the hotel and began renovations. However, both Melvin and Georgean died within a few years, leaving the hotel vacant once more. In 2006, John Jilbert purchased the property, and hired a caretaker to live in it.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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