A Stolen Attraction: Arlington House

May 12

It’s well known that there were dozens of successful hotels spread across Minnetonka’s shores in the lake’s Golden Era. None, however, was so cheated as Wayzata’s Arlington House hotel.

Built in 1880, the Arlington was designed to be one of the finest hotels anywhere on Minnetonka. Situated between the northwestern shore of Wayzata Bay and the Saint Paul Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway, the Arlington was able to capture clients from both land and water. Trains made special stops a the hotel’s property to deposit guests almost right onto its front porch. The overall cost of construction was a massive $25,000 in a time where the average worker earned roughly $15 per week. For that price, the Arlington was undeniably elegant and had all the markings of an enterprise designed to attract wealthy tourists from the Seep South. The building, featuring 104 rooms spread across three veranda wrapped floors, had soaring sixteen foot ceilings and an electric call button in each suite to summon one of the hotel’s workers. Many of those workers were Black and, in a time where slavery was formally abolished but largely masked by indentured servitude, many of the hotel’s wealthy Southern clients also brought servants with them from home. Of course, the Arlington wasn’t the only Minnetonka based hotel to accommodate such things. Even the Hotel Saint Louis and Lake Park Hotel knew their prime clientele and offered similar accommodations.

Life at the Arlington was unquestionably lazy, with many guests opting to relax under the veranda’s shade over booking fishing excursions, swimming, or taking far-flung picnics across the lake. It was commonplace for the hotel to host many of its guests throughout the entire summer season, especially those looking to avoid the decimating heat of the Deep South. By 1881 the hotel was fitted with one of the only telephones in Wayzata, making it more connected to the world than much of its competition. Despite the cost, luxury, location, and service, the Arlington House was soon to fall prey to a force much larger than itself.

Arlington House photographed with guests relaxing under the verandas.

Enter James J. Hill:

For around a decade, Hill had been deeply involved with the Lake Minnetonka area through his work with the Saint Paul Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway. Now he was no longer a high ranking employee of the company, he was running the show. Hill’s westward expansion of the railway from Wayzata to Minnetonka Beach is one that is largely appreciated today but, at the time, it came with consequences for the Arlington House. Those trains that had, just a couple years prior, stopped at the hotel’s door now cruised right by. Why won’t they stop? The answer lay out in Minnetonka Beach at Hill’s newly christened Hotel Lafayette. Opening its doors in 1882, Hill felt that the Arlington would make for strong competition to his great investment and saw that the trains no longer stopped there. To take it one step further, he purchased the property and closed its doors entirely. Entering only its third year of existence, the Arlington’s lights went dark. . .

The whole of Wayzata felt the blow of its closure. While it hadn’t been the only hotel in town, it was the hotel in town and now tourism was passing them up for Lafayette. 1883 passed just as 1882 had; quietly. In 1884, the Lake Minnetonka Directory didn’t even list Arlington on its hotel registry. It was instead mentioned as the residence of its watchman, Mr. Gallagher. Six years passed like this, with the hotel being dormant throughout the summer season. Not many accounts of its deterioration seem to survive today but, with no incentive to do major upkeep, one could safely assume that the wooden structure would have fallen into disrepair. It was clear to the people of Wayzata that Hill had “turned the key on Arlington” and left them behind entirely. At a time where they already felt overlooked and angry with Hill for his other mistreatments, this only served as further aggravation.

Demise came to the hotel almost as swiftly as success had when, on December 18, 1890, the hotel began to send up puffs of black smoke. The watchman had been painting a sleigh in one of the upper rooms and lit a fire to help dry the paint faster, then retired to his room on the other side of the building. The chimney was no longer functioning properly and the fire rapidly spread throughout the nearly unattended building. The blaze burned bright and was visible from across Wayzata Bay and, likely, much further. Like so many others in its time, the Arlington House burned completely to the ground. Insurance for the hotel had been unpaid and voided just two weeks prior to the accident, so no rebuilding was done.

The land was sold off, the debris scraped away, and Lafayette continued to be a success until it was destroyed by fire in the fall of 1897. Wayzata would make amends with Hill and the railroad in 1905 and be gifted a grand new depot in 1906. Arlington Hotel, for its part, is remembered by its surviving namesake: Arlington Heights.