Baldwin Hotel

The Baldwin Hotel is a historic hotel building in Klamath Falls, Oregon, in the United States. It was built in 1905 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 2, 1973. Originally built to be a hardware store by George Baldwin, the building was converted into a hotel in 1911 as George saw the potential profit from the railroad coming to town. He anticipated the railroad to come by the Link River, across the street from the building's location. Unfortunately for George, the railroad was instead built at the other end of Main Street, by the current Klamath County Museum. Nonetheless, the Hotel was built and operated with unique characteristics. As the site of construction was a rocky hillside, the building was constructed by carving away the basalt and creating an incredibly sturdy foundation. This hotel has almost all rooms connected in order to create the ability to rent out either one room, or an entire suite of rooms. George's thinking behind this was that people would want to be able to have an office and apartment all connected. It also was the first building to have indoor plumbing in every room, even though running water wasn't available until 1908.Baldwin FamilyThe Baldwin family consisted of George and Josephine Baldwin, and their children. They started a family and had their first born George, who died at the age of three. Their next child was Maud Baldwin, born in 1878, who became a prominent businesswoman and photographer. Three boys followed, Charles, William and Floyd (Zim), who became businessmen, owning and operating a mining operation, a hardware store, and an automobile dealership, respectively. George's later life found him in a senatorial seat from 1917 until his death in 1920. Leaving behind his unmarried daughter to care for her ailing mother and the hotel proved to be too much of a strain for Maud, who committed suicide in 1926. Before her death, Maud sold the hotel to a couple in 1923.