| George A. Weigele was born in Indiana in 1859
and was one of Alamogordo's pioneers. The son of a German immigrant, he
was married to Alma Weigele (born in Pennsylvania) and had a son, George,
Jr., who accompanied the couple to Alamogordo. George, Jr. was also
married, and his wife, Amelia, was a naturalized citizen originally from
Sweden. The elder Weigeles had eight children: four boys and
four girls (14th U. S. Census, 1920). The Weigele family arrived
in the new town around 1903 and bought a lot on the southeast corner of
New York Ave. and Ninth St. (822 New York) for $750.00
on December 21 of that year. George, Sr. was literate and originally ran a bakery on the corner. Alma offered furnished rooms for borders in their Ninth St. home beside the bakery. The back of the lot (east end) was devoted to the actual baking facilities, including the oven, a large flour storage shed, and cooking space. The bakery was one of the few buildings in Alamogordo to have a corner doorway (NMSBD 1903-1904; Otero County Deed Records, b. 6, p. 414; Sanborn maps, 1905). In July and August of 1904, the family advertised
"Weigele's Bakery [-] Specialties for Saturday [-] Gernam Coffee Cake[,]
Lemon Cream Pies[,] Lemon Cream Layer Cakes[,] Lemon Roll and Jelly Roll[.]
Also a fine line of Layer
George and Alma apparently dreamed of a bigger
venture and began accumulating the needed land on March 6, 1907 with the
acquisition of the lot that adjoined their 822 New York Ave. property at
a cost of $450.00. Less than two years later, on January 30, 1909, the
couple swelled their holdings with a third adjoining lot purchased for
$300.00. Although the
When George opened Weigele's New Store in 1910,
he broke his pattern of land ownership by renting a building at 202 Tenth
St. next to Evans Jewelers. Henry S. Evans bought out the stock of
Frank M. Rhomberg to form Evans Jewelers in January of 1909. Rhomberg
had moved the store to the corner of Tenth St. and Pennsylvania Ave. on
August 15, 1900 (Anderson 1986:10, 13; Sanborn maps, 1911). Just
two years before the opening of Weigele's New Store, the city had added
some of its earliest concrete sidewalks along Tenth St. in front Weigele's
and Evans' shops. The imprinted mark of the W. H. Miller Concrete
Co., Alamogordo, remains (in 2001) in the sidewalk that extends along Tenth
St. between New York Ave. and Delaware Ave. The mark bears the date
of 1908. Alma's rooming house expanded into the area that had originally
contained the bakery at the corner of Ninth St. and New York Ave.
The couple continued to live in the back of the rooming house and still
maintained the actual oven and bakery space at the end of the lot.
The enlarged boarding house was renamed the St. Elmo (Stanley 1963:8; NMSBD
1911-12, 1913-14; Otero County Deed Records, b. 23, p. 601-602; Sanborn
Maps, 1911).
The Weigele family also supported civic activities, such as the big Alamogordo Fourth of July celebrations in the early 20th century (ca. 1912-1914). George Weigele, Jr. helped provide the music offered at the bandstand at Alameda Park, and "Dad" Weigele (George Sr.) donated loaves of bread from his bakery for the free feasts offered to the public at the park and at vacant lots throughout town. Along with such fun events as a greased pig chase for the kids and a greased pole climb, people were entertained by calf roping, bronc riding, and other rodeo-like events (Tower 1999:231). His support also went beyond individual celebrations. When the Rotary Club of Alamogordo was chartered on April 30, 1923, George Weigele was one of the charter members (Harris 1999:200). In late 1917, the Weigeles closed the
store, demolished the St. Elmo, and and contracted Mike Missick, a local
general contractor to build a new larger structure (Otero County News 11/15/1917).
Missick was active in Alamogordo construction, and his marks may still
be seen in the concrete sidewalks of Michigan Avenue between Twelfth and
Sixteenth Streets in no less than twenty-nine places.
The New Hotel Weigele retained the 822 New
York Ave. address (as well as the corner entrance) and offered private
baths, hot and cold running water, and steam heat as well as free transportation
to and from the railway depot. The hotel contained thirty rooms and
had a large lobby. An ad in the Alamogordo News claimed reasonable
rates and "Every Convenience for Commercial Men." The New Hotel Weigele
was scheduled to open on October 1, 1917. Weigele closed the bakery
(Weigele's New Store) in 1918 (Alamogordo News September 6, 1917; NMSBD
1915-1920; Sanborn Maps, 1921).
In 1921, the Weigele family went East on an extended visit. While they were gone, they "leased the New Weigele Hotel to Mr. and Mrs. J A. Holme, who will continue to operate this popular place along the same lines as has been pursued by the owners." Coming to Alamogordo from Denver, the Holme family was experienced in the hotel business, having operated the Palms Hotel in that city (Alamogordo Cloudcrofter March 18, 1921). I have not found a notice of Weigele's return. George, Sr., and Alma Weigele sold the hotel
to William A. Randle and Bessie D. Randle on April 14, 1924 for $25,000
with payments of $350 per month during the first year and $400 per month
thereafter. Randle was also required to insure the hotel in Weigele's
name for $20,000. The deed, like all land transactions of the time,
contained a liquor clause whereby the owner promised that "intoxicating
liquors shall never be manufactured, sold or otherwise disposed of, as
a beverage or medicine . . . upon the premises." The new owners promoted
the Hotel Weigele (no longer New) as a "Home for the Traveling Public."
George and Alma began to liquidate their holdings prior to leaving town.
One of their final sales, on April 18, 1925, was the first home of the
Alamogordo Bottling Works. The last record of the Weigeles in Alamogordo
was a sale of land on October 7, 1925. The couple seem to have left
prior to the final sale. They attended a picnic for former Alamogordo
residents in Pasadena, California, on November 1, 1925 (Anderson 1986:15;
NMSBD 1923-1927; Otero County Deed Records, b. 80, p. 669, b. 81, p. 315,
357, b. 82, p. 530).
Randle operated the hotel until March 15, 1928,
when John R. Dowdle (1871-1958) and his wife, Bessie D. Dowdle took charge
of the operation. Dowdle was 56 years old when he began running the
hotel and advertised the establishment as a "home for commercial men and
the traveling public, modern, reasonable rates." Rooms were available
for "$1.00 and $1.50, $2.50 with bath" (NMSBD 1927-1931, 1936, 1938, 1940-41;
Tombstone of John R. Dowdle, Alamogordo Cemetery). The News (March
8, 1928) bragged that:
Dowdle, along with his wife, Bessie D., did
not actually buy the hotel until June 29, 1936 for a price of $30,000.
The Dowdles operated the hotel until 1943 (Otero County Deed Records,
b. 107, p. 439). Dowdle also operated the Alamogordo Theater in the
1920s, although he sold it to their son, George Dowdle, and George P. Robertson
in May of 1927 and left town for Luftkin, Texas. John and Bessie
told the newspaper that they planned to return and live in Alamogordo for
the rest of their lives (Alamogordo News May 5, 1927). Russ Henderson
described John Dowdle as:
On September 8, 1943, John R. Dowdle sold the Weigle Hotel (note different spelling) to "Mrs. J. C. Wilborn and Mrs. Wilborn's sister, Mrs. M. M. Ward," although the new owners would not "take over management [until] September 15." The News noted that "Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Dowdle who have operated the hotel for many years, are retiring because of health consideration and will go to Deming to live with their son George Dowdle" (Alamogordo News September 9, 1943). The deed for the hotel identified the new owners
as "Maude A. Ward (a single woman) and Ethel Wilborn . . . for $1,000 .
. . and other valuable considerations" (Otero County Deed Records, b. 124,
p. 189). Two years later, on September 25, 1945, "Maude T. Ward (special
partner) and Mrs. J. C. [Ethel] Wilborn (general partner)" formed a partnership
called Wilborn & Co. with a capital of $10,000 "contributed equally
by the Partners hereto." The partnership was specifically created
to buy the Weigle Hotel and change its name to the Wilward Hotel, named
for the two new owners. The partners were to divide profits equally,
although "the General Partner shall be in control of the operation of the
Partnership business. . ." Both partners moved into the hotel.
Wilborn & Co. bought the Weigle Hotel on the same day as the partnership
agreement for $10,000, payable to the Weigle Hotel. The hotel was
a two-story, frame building with plaster on the outside and a large sign
over the corner doorway (Otero County Deed Records, b. 128, p. 41, b. 129,
p. 278).
The ladies dissolved the partnership on February 10, 1962, because -"due to her physical inability to carry on her activities in the partnership business, Ethel Wilborn is retiring as an active partner in the business, and selling her interest in the said business to the remaining partner, Maude T. Ward." The price had appreciated considerably since their purchase in 1943. Ward now paid Wilborn $30,000 for her half, the same price the partners originally paid for the entire hotel. Despite the hotel's location next door to Alamogordo's fire station, the property (along with the fire station) burned to the ground later in the 1960s (Callaway interview, January 23, 1998; Otero County Deed Records, b. 282, p. 291, b. 287, p. 475-476). The Wilward Hotel fire has an interesting sequel. During the late 1960s or early 1970s, a group of downtown property owners met to discuss installing new sidewalks along Ninth St. Present at the meeting were Maude Ward and Leonard Sheffield. With great embarrassment, Ward disclosed that she was unable to pay her share for the proposed sidewalks because she was still in debt from her former business and had no assets other than the three lots that formerly contained the Wilward Hotel. After some internal debate, Sheffield decided that it was his Christian duty to help out and, on February 2, 1971, he bought the lots through his business, Sheffield Furniture, Inc. That same day, he acquired the fourth adjoining lot along New York Ave. from Jack and Maude Rathgerber and within a few years negotiated with Montgomery Ward to build a building on the property and lease it to them. Interestingly, the four properties combined to make a total perimeter of 100x120 feet--the exact size to fit Montgomery Ward's smallest store plan. Sheffield's generosity was rewarded (Otero County Deed Records, b. 378, p. 723; b. 380, p. 272; b. 382, p. 822; b. 376, p. 625; b. 381, p. 922; Sheffield interview, March 28, 1998). |
