Baranoff Hotel is one of the lesser known historic hotels of Sitka, Alaska. This was the hotel that was ran by a former Navy steward and cook. This news article will explain and divulge into the history of Baranoff Hotel. This Baranoff Hotel is not to be confused with the Baranoff Hotel that is in Juneau, Alaska. Yes, Sitka had a Baranoff Hotel before Juneau did.
William “Billy” Millmore was a former Navy steward who owned and operated the Baranoff Hotel. He was the owner of Sitka’s Baranoff Hotel.
William “Billy” Millmore purchased a parcel of land from Patrick Corcoran in November 1885. On this parcel of land was a Russian era log building on the site of the present American Legion building on Lincoln Street. In December 1885, Millmore got a discharge from the Navy and announced that he would open a hotel. He first called this hotel the Baranoff Hotel and later it became the Millmore Hotel, a name it carried for some 50 years. Millmore Hotel was first called the Baranoff Hotel. The Baranoff Hotel later became the Millmore Hotel, which carried the name for 50 some years. In February 1886, Millmore leased the hotel to O.P. Baker, who was said to have been an experienced hotel man and who had recently, arrived from Chicago with his family. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6735201/daily-sitka-sentinel/)
[A man named William Millmore and commonly known as Billy seems to have been the first to prospect, or at least the first to locate claims on the back side of the mountain. Millmore would seem an unlikely candidate to become a prospector. He was born in England, was 23 years old when he arrived in Sitka, arid had spent most of his life at sea not as a sailor but as a cook and steward. He once said that he had been around the world eight times before he reached Sitka. But apparently nobody, was immune to the bite of the gold bug and Millmore soon had the fever. When Lt. Cmdr. Henry E. Nichols arrived in Sitka in September 1884 to take command of the USS PINTA he brought with" him his favorite wardroom steward, Billy Millmore. That did not draw much attention in town until November 1885, when Millmore purchased from Patrick Corcoran a Russian era log building on the site of the present American Legion building on Lincoln Street. In December 1885 Millmore got a discharge from the Navy and announced that he would open a hotel. He first called it the Baranoff Hotel and later it became the Millmore Hotel, a name it carried for some 50 years.]
William “Billy” Millmore wanted to try his luck at mining. In 1886, he acquired four loade claims near the head of the east fork of Indian River. Baranoff Hotel was located near the east fork of Indian River. He built a hydropower plant powered by a Pelton water well. This Pelton water well was connected to a hydropower plant which provided drinking water for Baranoff Hotel. (Ref: https://sitkahistory.com/2017/04/billy-basin/)
Paulina Cohen, the oldest of the four Cohen girls, for a time ran the Baranoff Hotel (yes, Sitka had a Baranoff Hotel before Juneau did), and became postmaster in August 1890. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/11681249/)
In December of 1897, Billy bought two Pelton wheels, dual two-stamp Hendy mills, a complete sawmill, and tons of tools and supplies. Unfortunately he never made much from his mining endeavors, but today, Billy Basin, located about three miles northeast of Sitka National Historical Park, continues to bear the name of Billy Millmore, the man who hoped to strike it rich. (Ref: https://sitkahistory.com/2017/04/billy-basin/)
After 1900, Paulina Cohen resigned her position as postmaster to run the Baranoff Hotel, built on the Cohen property on American Street. Paulina Cohen was a popular figure in Sitka much of the early 20th century. (Ref: https://jewishmuseum.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/1999_volume-no.2.pdf)
She only stepped down in 1900 in order to run the Baranof Hotel. Paulina also remained involved in her family’s brewery. When the Organic Act of 1884 prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcohol, Paulina worked to keep her family’s business afloat by applying to the Department of the Interior for a license to produce beer for “medicinal” purposes. (Ref: https://www.juneauempire.com/life/sitkas-first-postmistress-forged-her-own-path/)
The Alaska Loggers Association often held their meetings at Baranoff Hotel during much of the early 20th century. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/24407089/)
George Brooke described Baranoff Hotel as “simple but hospitable little”. Baranoff Hotel was a simple but hospitable little hotel during the 20th century. (Ref: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/55980/55980-h/55980-h.htm)
Sam Sing bought the Baranoff Hotel on the site of the present American Legion Post in 1911. Sam Sing sold his property on Lincoln Street in March 1931. However Sam left for the south and never returned to Sitka. That is how Baranoff Hotel became abandoned. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/12982680/)
Mrs. Marie Rigling Peterson (Miss Rigling), one of the town’s shrewdest and most successful business women, purchased the property where Baranoff Hotel was in June 1928 from Sam Sing. Baranoff Hotel was then vacant. So Baranoff Hotel was razed and demolished. Mrs. Peterson’s brother-in-law, Benjamin Schramm, came up from Bellingham and put up a two-story worn frame business building for her. The Sitka Bazaar opened in the new building in 1929. (Ref: https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-feb-22-1993-507370/)
“The fur end of the business gradually died out among Sitka merchants, probably because it was often unprofitable. The world market was volatile, at best, and determining the quality of raw furs being purchased required a good deal of skill. The last of the Sitka merchant-fur buyers appears to have been the Sitka Bazaar, whose founder. Mane Rigling Peterson, was one of the town’s shrewdest and most successful business women. Marie Rigling was born in Alsace-Lorraine just a year after France ceded that area to Germany. She came to the United States with a number of members of her family and arrived in Sitka in 1903 to become nursemaid for Waldo Mills, who had been born with club feet and had undergone numerous surgical operations. Two years later at Juneau Miss Rigling married George H. Peterson, who had previously lived in Sitka but was then a millwright at the Eagle River mine north of Juneau.”
“In June 1928 Mrs. Peterson purchased the Cohen property at Lincoln and American Streets. Buildings on the property included the Baranoff Hotel, then vacant, and the Cohen Building. The buildings were razed and Mrs. Peterson’s brother-in-law, Benjamin Schramm, came up from Bellingham and put up a two-story worn frame business building for her. The Sitka Bazaar opened in the new building in 1929. Curios were still a large part of the inventory, but there was also a line of groceries and of clothing, the Railway Express office and the fur business. In addition to buying furs in town, Mrs. Peterson’s son Charles made fur-buying trips to outlying villages. That branch of the business continued for nearly 20 years. In addition to her business enterprises. which included property ownership and management, Mrs. Peterson served as a member of the Sitka School Board and for many years she was city treasurer and tax collector.”
Today Baranoff Hotel is home to Sitka Bazaar. Sitka Bazaar continues to operate at this location.
Baranoff Hotel was located at 42 American, Sitka, Alaska, US 99835.
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