Soo Hotel facts for kids

The Soo Hotel is a historic building in Bismarck, North Dakota. It has had many names over the years, like the Princess Hotel and The Hotel Dakotan. This building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

A powerful businessman named Edward Patterson built the Soo Hotel in 1906. It was a four-story hotel with 76 rooms. He named it after the Soo Line Railroad, which had a train station nearby. For a short time, it was the tallest building in Bismarck!

Building a Historic Hotel

Edward Patterson picked Milton Earle Beebe, an architect from Fargo, to design the Soo Hotel. Beebe had also designed another building for Patterson, called the Patterson Block.

The first two floors of the hotel were made from strong concrete. The upper floors used cement blocks and wood. The outside of the building was covered with special bricks from Hebron, North Dakota. The hotel originally had a tall brick sign with its name and the year it was built. This sign was taken down after the 1930s.

When the hotel was finished in 1907, people said it was "absolutely fireproof." This was important because a big fire had destroyed much of downtown Bismarck in 1898.

Connecting Hotels

In 1911, another hotel called the McKenzie Hotel was built next door. Edward Patterson also owned this hotel with his friend, Alexander McKenzie. The two hotels were connected. This allowed guests at the Soo Hotel to use the dining rooms at the McKenzie Hotel.

After Alexander McKenzie passed away in 1922, Edward Patterson bought the McKenzie Hotel. In 1927, Patterson renamed it the Patterson Hotel. At the same time, he changed the name of the Soo Hotel to the Princess Hotel. This was a playful move against another local businessman, Edmond A. Hughes. Hughes had recently renamed his hotel the Prince Hotel.

New Names and Changes

In the mid-1930s, Patterson renamed the Princess Hotel again. It became the Patterson Hotel Annex. Even though it was still a separate hotel, guests had to check in at the main Patterson Hotel desk.

Around 1950, the hotel got new owners and was renamed The Dakotan. At this time, it became fully separate from the Patterson Hotel. The building was updated inside, getting its own lobby and elevator.

Later Years

In 1964, a new highway, Interstate 94, was built. This caused fewer people to visit downtown Bismarck. By the late 1970s, The Dakotan hotel closed its doors.

The upper floors of the building were empty for a while. In the 1980s, a group led by Jim Christianson renovated the building. He has helped restore many historic buildings in the Bismarck area. Today, the ground floor of the building has small shops. It used to have the hotel lobby, grocery stores, and a department store.