Hyland Hotel - Palmer, Alaska
Posted by: BruceS
N 61° 36.001 W 149° 07.182
6V E 387537 N 6831453
Historic former hotel in Palmer, Alaska.
Waymark Code: WM9GGM
Location: Alaska, United States
Date Posted: 08/18/2010
Views: 6
The Hyland Hotel was among the earliest commercial properties built in the new town of Palmer in 1935. Its establishment was an indication that private capital saw Palmer as an attractive business location and contributed to a feeling of permanence in the new town. Shortly after the arrival of the Matanuska Colony settlers, Myles and Joanna Hyland moved to Palmer from Girdwood, Alaska, where Myles had been working for the Alaska Railroad. The Hylands bought a lot from John Bugge, a pre-colony homesteader, in what is now downtown Palmer, and began building the hotel.
In September, the Hylands began digging the basement for the hotel by hand. To help financially, Joanna cooked and served meals in a tent on the property while the hotel was being built. Lumber for the hotel came from a dormitory that had stood at the nearby Eska coal mine. The Lutheran congregation purchased the dormitory and dismantled and moved it to Palmer to be used to build their church. The congregation sold the surplus lumber and windows. The Hylands furnished the hotel with one hundred dollars worth of furniture they purchased in Anchorage. When the hotel opened, single rooms rented for three dollars a day and double rooms for four dollars. Valley coal miners often rented rooms in the hotel during the winter months.
The Hylands operated the hotel together until Myles 1 death in 1949, then Joanna took over on her own. Joanna later married a local miner named James Smith, and they operated the hotel until 1966. Except for a brief period in the late 1950s, the hotel has continuously operated." - National Register Nomination form
The hotel is currently closed and the building is listed for sale.