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.The Baldwin family consisted
of George and Josephine Baldwin, and their children. They started a
family and had their firstborn 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 by drowning her self in
the nearby lake. Before her death, Maud sold the hotel to a couple in
1923.This couple, Andrew and Cordelia Moore operated the hotel until
1951 when they retired and gave the hotel to their daughter Vera Moore
Jones and her husband, Mart Jones. The hotel in its later years
operated as a residence hotel serving many elderly gentlemen,
including Herbert Ballard, who lived in the same room of the hotel for
51 years. Ballard was an Englishman who worked as an accountant for
the many (at the time) lumber companies in the area. His duration at
the Baldwin made him the only resident to have lived there under all
three sets of owners and he was informally adopted, spending his
holidays with the Jones'. The Jones' era came to a close in 1971 due
to the hotel falling into disrepair and the financial trouble of
getting up to date on the fire code; ultimately, the hotel was forced
to close.The destruction of the hotel was imminent until a group of
concerned citizens came together and forced a reconsideration for the
property. This led to Klamath County buying the property and all of
its contents, including the original brass beds, dressers, claw foot
tubs and other items from the long history of the building and its
inhabitants. The conversion was considerably helped by former County
Commissioner, Nell Kuonen to whom the Museum owes its gratitude. Baldwin Hotel Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter