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- Description:
- The Hotel Kerns Fire collection contains materials from both before and after the fire. Business papers include a variety of documents from 1904 to 1947 relating to the running of the hotel and the management of the corporations assets after its destruction. A limited number of documents in the collection deal with the Kerns family's legal matters. Notes and a fire report map are included, as are images of the hotel before the fire. Initial correspondence regarding claims against the hotel and request for the payment of medical bills are included. Information on inquests and lawsuits makes up a large portion of the collection and primarily consists of court transcripts and witness testimony from legal actions taken after the hotel fire. Finally, a small number of booklets containing information hotel law and hotel fires are included. The Hotel Kerns was built in 1909 by William G. Kerns. The hotel cost $50,000 to build and was the first hotel in the state of Michigan that had running ice water in every one of its 162 rooms. Located in the 100 block of N. Grand Ave., the hotel’s location and amenities made the Kerns popular with legislators and community groups. In January of 1922 the women’s club Zonta held their first meeting at the Kerns. The Kerns also served as the bus station for the city of Lansing until 1932. Known not only as a ‘fun place to stay’ because of the rollicking bar that was at the hotel, the Kerns also had a popular cafeteria where busy workers and travelers could stop by for a quick meal. The hotel caught fire just after 5am on December 11, 1934 and by 7:30 that morning the outer walls of the Hotel Kerns had collapsed and the fire was contained. The cause of the fire was identified as a discarded cigarette. Numerous people were injured in the fire and thirty-four people were killed. Five of the bodies were never identified. As of April 2019, the entire contents of this collection, with the exception of state publications on hotel law, have been digitized. Click on a Containers item below to find a link to that folder's PDF.
- Date Created:
- [1904 TO 1947]
- Data Provider:
- Capital Area District Library (Lansing, MI). Forest Parke Library and Archives
- Collection:
- Hotel Kerns Fire Collection
- Description:
- Shows an interior view of the Hotel Kerns dining room. The dining room was on the first floor oriented parallel to Ottawa Street, and the view out the window is likely toward the Grand River which was directly behind the hotel.
- Data Provider:
- Capital Area District Library (Lansing, MI). Forest Parke Library and Archives
- Collection:
- Hotel Kerns Fire Collection
- Description:
- Shows the four-story Hotel Kerns northwest elevation along North Grand Avenue, with multiple storefronts, stairs going down to garden level entries, a fire escape on the Ottawa Street side, and several parked cars.
- Data Provider:
- Capital Area District Library (Lansing, MI). Forest Parke Library and Archives
- Collection:
- Hotel Kerns Fire Collection
- Description:
- Shows an interior view of the Hotel Kerns lobby. A man with a pipe reads a newspaper in the foreground. There is a shoe shine chair and a tobacco counter, and the double doors in the background lead into the hotel's cafeteria.
- Data Provider:
- Capital Area District Library (Lansing, MI). Forest Parke Library and Archives
- Collection:
- Hotel Kerns Fire Collection
