I have an old deck of cards from the Hotel Ingham; Edith Slack, Manager. Does anyone know where this hotel was and when it was in operation? Just curious.

I think I remember it was out on the road going out to the valley.

The Gingham Lady? Classy joint.

The Ingram Hotel stood across the street from the side of the 600. I walked passed it nearly every day going to work and remember the beautiful chandelier. It was a brick building, as I recall.

In the 20's it was advertised in the Auto Blue Book as a place the auto traveler could get "your icy-hot bottle" filled at the Ingham Hotel's-- Ingham hot showers & bath tubs. It was advertised with Shuey's Motor Company-- the largest & best equipped repair shop in Montana. I don't know if the icy-hot bottle was a thermos for the traveler or water for the auto's radiator.

"Ingham" or "Ingram"?

The building Fred South is referring to must have been the one known as the ElRobo Building in later years. It was located on the southwest corner of Sixth and Main St. It burned to the ground in about 1983.

The Gingham Lady Motel was located on old U.S. Hwy 10/12 (Valley Drive East).

Here, from this site's "Gallery", you can see a photo with a "Hotel Ingham" sign in it. The sign is mounted on the building (the "El Robo Building" in later years) that was located at Sixth and Main St:

http://milescity.com/gall...d=4&id=412

Ingham. It was open until the 1960's, I believe. Yes, you came in through a door on 6th street and it was upstairs.

If the clock in the photo above (below the "Ingham" sign) looks familiar, it is now across the street from its orignal location at Club 519. And the clock is set at that time (5:19).

Thanks for all the information. The cards actually belong to my husband. He is the gambler in the family. We bought the cards in an antique shop in Glendive and just wanted a little history on the hotel. I knew this site was the place to go. Thanks again.

I remember going there to pick up my aunt when she came up from Wyoming every summer to visit.
It had beautiful woodwork and our mom woul let us get a gumball from the dispenser that sat on the counter.
I remember it as beautiful.
And yes, you entered from 6th Street.

sorry-the "d" sticks on my keyboard!

the hotel was still open in late 60; or early 70;s as I stayed there will working on the post office, I believe the manager was Buzz Hutcherson at that time . I believe it was a saloon after that, call the black Bull.

Damn, Main Street sure was impressive looking in the old days.

Seeing that picture makes you just want to fold your hand, and let the buffalo take over again.

The building that the Hotel Ingham sign is on was the Miles City Bank as shown on the clock . If you look closely you will notice that the Hotel Ingham sign is an arrow pointing to the left. The hotel was in a building behind the bank. There was another building between the bank and the hotel which in the 50's was occupied by Dr. Hadlee, an Optometrist. My Dad was a clerk at the hotel for a couple of years in the late 20's. It was owned by Bill and Mabel Ingham.

I recall Dr. Hadley still being around in the 60's...but maybe switched office sites.

Yes. In the summer of 1965 I visited Miles City and met the gang of mostly educated bachelors who hung out with Howard Anderson at the Miles City Ready Mix. Doc Hadley was around regularly as were Brud Foster, and Glenn Bredvold. Knowing I was heading west, they recommended Highway 95 in Washington (I'm not sure that was the correct number but it follows the Snake River and has that high overlook of Lewiston Idaho). Doc Hadley raved about Morro Bay, California and so I checked that town out as well in my 1964 Mustang. The only time I ever owned a car which turned girls' and guys' heads.

My grandfather, Sam Thompson, was a clerk at the Ingham Hotel from the early 1950's until near the end of his life in 1964. Edith Slack was the owner of the hotel. Every Christmas a very tall Christmas tree was erected in the hotel lobby and my grandfather kept a supply of candy canes hanging from its branches which all of us kids reached out from the second story staircase landing to retrieve. Behind the desk was a large telephone switchboard complete with lights, connecting cords, and buzzers which Grandad operated to connect guests with outside callers. The coke machine along the back wall (10 cents) was always filled with the coldest and sweetest cokes I ever drank (Grandad always had a few dimes in his pocket). A large tinted photo of Jesse Stahl, a black cowboy, riding a horse called Glasseye at the Salinas, California rodeo in 1913 hung near the front door. An old large grandfather clock ticked away the hours on the north wall. The lobby furniture was all fine leather and wood. An oilman named Tuffy Ferris had a small office in the lobby. In the basement were a few large rooms which Grandad said were specially reserved for traveling salesmen to display their wares to local merchants. Sometime in the late 1950's, a black couple from back east stopped in Miles City and tried to get a room. Nobody in the other hotels in town would rent then a room. Without a second thought, Grandad rented them a room at the Ingham. In about 1957, my brother, Barry, and I, while snooping around in the basement, discovered that the north wall separating the Ingham from the Miles City Bank consisted at one point of just a series of closely spaced bars. The installers of the bars had set them close enough together to keep any would-be adult bankrobbers from squeezing through from the hotel into the bank. They must never have figured that a couple of skinny 8 year old kids might try to get through. Barry and I made it. Actually, we made it into the large wide open vault inside the bank's basement before we lost our nerve. To this day we often wondered how we might have gotten ahead early in life if only we had found more courage while in that bank vault. With no sign of forced entry, the bank management would have guessed that the robbery could only have come about as a result of "an inside job!"

Unfortunately, both the Ingham Hotel and Miles City Bank as well as the CrossRoads Inn east of town were burned to the ground in the 1970's or early 1980's by a Miles City kid, Pat Cain, who lived just two blocks from our house on the north side of Miles City. Pat spent some time in prison for the arson and I met him years later when he was a grounds keeper at a Billings golf course. Pat died a few years ago.

[This message has been edited by Don Thompson (7/15/2012)]

[This message has been edited by Don Thompson (7/15/2012)]

Wow! That was a great story! You painted a picture of it! Thanks!

Thank you! That was so wonderful. I could hear the clock ticking and smell the old wood and leather in the lobby.

Wonderful.

Thanks for the great story. You inspired me to scan this ad from the 1963 "Tourist Edition" of the Miles City Star:



FLICKR PHOTO: 1963 Ingham Hotel Ad, Miles City

Also want to add that this is the first I have heard of Pat Cain being responsible for the fire at the El Robo building (the former Miles City Bank / Ingham Hotel building).

TV in the lobby! Wow!

Dr. Carden Hadley was a very dear friend of my family. When he left Miles City, he moved to Wenatchee, WA, but always kept in touch with us, especially my mother, Mary Elting, whom he adored. He passed away in 1992, and is still very much missed by our family.

The ashtrays next to the chairs in the lobby confirm the presence of a "Western Atmosphere".

I don't believe the cause or person causing the fire was ever discovered. There was some speculation in those days but no proof. I never heard of Pat as a suspect.

I was passing on information I had heard through the years. If I was in error, I apologize.

David:

I was passing on information that I had heard over 25 years ago. If I am in error, I apologize. I am in the process of trying to edit my story to remove those remarks.

Wow, I got my first pair of glasses from Dr. Hadley, in 1955, even remember going to his office, in or by the Ingham.