OLANDER HOTEL

     The Olander Hotel was constructed in 1899 by Charles Olander as the first hotel in Silverhill. It was known as the Silverhill Hotel.

     The hotel was finished by November 5, 1899, when acting church secretary, Charles Olander, reported that the First Baptist Church was organized on that day in the dining room of the hotel with twelve members present. Charles and Hanna Olander were two of those members. The small congregation continued to meet in the hotel until 1900.

     Charles, his wife Hanna, and six children lived in the hotel. Their two youngest children were born there in 1900 and 1906.

     At that time, the building was the Olander's home and a hotel for the Swedish people who came to buy land from the Svea Land Company of Chicago.

Silverhill's early promotional booklet front cover of "Silverhill in Word and Picture" showing the hotel.

     Mr. Olander opened the first Silverhill post office as postmaster on the first floor of the hotel. Along with the post office, he operated the town's first store, selling groceries and household merchandise.

     Mrs. Olander's sister, Mrs. Amanda S. Sten, had also moved to Silverhill. She operated a Millinery (hats and gifts) shop in the hotel.

     Excurions by train from Chicago to Silverhill occurred once or twice each month with the goal of selling land. Before completion of the Silverhill train depot (Robertsdale) in 1905, ecursionists were taken to Mobile by train, then ferried across the bay to Daphne. Then they traveled by horse drawn wagon to Silverhill. Rooms were available to rent in the Olander Hotel for the visitors.

Excursion Advertisements
Click each picture to Enlarge.

Excursion advertisement taken from the Silverhill Nyheter (News) October 1903, in Swedish.

Excursion advertisement taken from the Silverhill Nyheter (News) Febuary 1904, in English.

     By 1910, Charles Olander had moved his family to Jackson, Mississippi and soon after sold the hotel.

     Throughout the years, the building served many purposes including hotel, post office, grocery, general merchandise store, Baptist Church meeting place, millinery shop, bank, meat market, ice cream parlor, cabinet shop, and apartments.

     In January 1953, the building was removed in pieces to be rebuilt into a church and parsonage in Robertsdale as part of the Assembly of God Church.

This is a recent satellite view of the town block 12, lots 13-14 that contained the Olander Hotel, highlighted in magenta. - Click to enlarge.

     Location: The Olander Hotel was on the north side of Silverhill Highway (104) on the land that is now a parking lot in front of the Silverhill Town Hall (town block 12, lots 13-14). This building no longer exists.

     Interesting facts:

1. The Olander hotel housed Silverhill's first grocery store in 1899.


2. The Olander hotel housed Silverhill's first post office in 1899 with Charles J. Olander as postmaster.


3. The hotel housed Silverhill's first bank in 1924 with Oscar Johnson as bank president.


4. The hotel was nicknamed "Castle Crow".

CASTLE CRANEYCROW
By George Barr McCutcheon
Published 1902

Castle Craneycrow is a romance novel written by American author George Barr McCutcheon. Open the book, pictured above, to read a complete eBook version.

In the Foley Onlooker, Thu. Jan. 29, 1953 (pictured below), Louise J. Lundberg says that the Olander Hotel was know by some later on as "Castle Craney Crow". The name was shortened to Castle Crow. The novel Castle Craneycrow depicts a romantic stone castle with a tower overlooking it's estate. The Olander Hotel also had a tower, and as another article below states, "it was a noted rendezvous for honeymooners". These similarities may have been the reason the building was called Castle Crow.

Pictures of
The Olander Hotel
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Mr. and Mrs. Axel Theodore Westerlund and daughter Ester Lovisa about age 3 in Oscar Johnson's barnyard. The Olander hotel is behind them across the road, before it's first coat of paint, 1899.	Oscar Johnson's barnyard on the left. The Olander hotel is on the right, across the road from the Johnson place. This photo was taken soon after construction, before it's first coat of paint, 1899.
The Olander Hotel about 1905.	Oscar Johnson's house on the left about 1907. Silverhill Hotel built by Charles Olander on the right. The camera view is from the side porch of the Peoples Supply looking northwest. The dirt road would become County Road 55.
The Olander Hotel about 1917.	The photo of the hotel was attached to a nail with typed information on the back.
Close up view of sign on Olander Hotel, pictured above reads: Mrs. A.S. STEN MILLINERY	The Olander Hotel (Silverhill Hotel) about 1910 on the right.
Silverhill Ave. about 1930 with the Silverhill Motor Co. on the left, the Olander hotel in the center, which housed The Park Grocery.	Close up view of the photo from the left of the Olander Hotel. Notice the Park Grogery sign on the roof of the porch.
The sign on the porch roof above reads: The Park Grocery	The Park Grocery advertisement which ran in the Foley Onlooker in June 1932. The Park Grocery opened January 1928 under the managemenet of Carl I. Rundquist & Son, Axel Rundquist in the Olander hotel until March 1934, when it moved to the newly constructed building on the west side of the Motor Company.

Newspaper Clippings of
The Olander Hotel
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The Foley Onlooker, Thu. Dec. 27, 1945 written by an unknown author.	The Foley Onlooker, Thu. Nov. 20, 1952 written by Louise J. Lundberg.
The Foley Onlooker, Thu. Dec. 11, 1952 written by Louise J. Lundberg.	The Foley Onlooker, Thu. Jan. 29, 1953 written by Louise J. Lundberg.
The Foley Onlooker, Thu. Feb. 5, 1953 written by an unknown author.	The Foley Onlooker, Thu. Feb. 12, 1953 written by Louise J. Lundberg.