BRATTLEBORO — The death of George Brooks, the creator of the Brooks House, at age 68 was just one of the many events in local history that have taken place in and near the buildings on Main Street.
But who was he, and why did he care to put the sum of $150,000 - the equivalent of which in today's currency is $2.7 million - into a monstrous hotel from which he expected no profit?
The answer lies in Brooks's employment history.
Born in Cambridge, Mass., as one of eight children, his father, a shipmaster, moved the family to Chesterfield, N.H., when he was 3 years old.
Brooks first worked as a clerk in the store of Gardner C. Hall, of Brattleboro. After 10 years in Hillsboro, Ill., where he was taught to be a farmer, Brooks left for the California Gold Rush in February 1850. He had no intention to mine for gold. One of his brothers, Horace, was a member of the firm of Persee & Brooks, who were paper dealers in New York City. They were also the owners of large paper mills in Windsor Locks, Conn.
George went to California to establish a branch house in which he and his brother took a half-interest.
When the fire of 1850 destroyed the large paper warehouses in San Francisco, Brooks and his brother, seizing the market opportunity, cleared a great fortune. They founded the George J. Brooks & Co Paper Warehouse. His business spread from Arizona to Oregon, Washington Territory, Vancouver Island, and the Sandwich Islands, now known as Hawaii.
Their supplies were shipped from New York around Cape Horn and on to California. It was said that because the majority of his business was always afloat, as he usually had $100,000 to $200,000 worth of paper products on the water at all times.
The firm did a prosperous business until 1865, when Brooks sold his interest to N.F. Cabot of Brattleboro, and promptly retired as a very wealthy man. Brooks owned a great deal of real estate in San Francisco and was one of the original promoters of the cable street railways there as well.
His obituary states, “After his release from the exacting cares of business, his attachment for the East and the scenes of his youth reasserted itself, and in due time, he established his legal residence in Brattleboro.
“He was not a man of quick or alert mind,” it concedes. “He was slow in his conclusions, but when he had thought any subject out, he was hard to shake, though by no means unreasonable. He was a man of the strictest integrity, his word as good as his bond, a fair considerate competitor, when others were willing to deal fairly.”
His obituary writer described him as “a hard man to beat” when business shenanigans took place.
It can only be imagined then, that when the Great Fire of 1869 razed the entire west side of Main Street (see sidebar), the man who was “slow with his conclusions” considered purchasing the land from Charles Chapin and decided a year later to build the gigantic Brooks Hotel.
“His public spirit and strong attachment to the friends of his youth have best shown by his building and furnishing the Brooks House in 1871 at a cost of $150,000,” Mary Rogers Cabot wrote in the 1921 town history, Annals of Brattleboro, 1681-1895. “Without expecting to realize any returns from it as an investment, he spared no money in making it a superior among the hotels in New England, and lived there in apartments especially arranged with his sister, Miss Ellen M. Brooks.”
Luxury accommodations
An article written in the Vermont Phoenix (the precursor to the Brattleboro Reformer) of April 5, 1872 described in detail the newest and certainly the most sophisticated downtown building.
“A veranda 90 feet in length fronts the center of the building on Main Street, beneath which is the main entrance...there is a wash room, a baggage room, a sample room, and one of the best features of the house, a gent's reading room. In the basement are located the boilers by which the entire building is heated, also a billiard room. A ladies entrance is located on High Street.”
“There is a public parlor, and a reception room opening on the veranda which commands a fine view of Main Street. There is a tavern, The Oak Room, in the basement and a dining room is located on the High Street side,” the newspaper reported, adding that “the hungry multitudes are destined to seat themselves at his well-spread tables.”
The laundry room was a separate building in the rear. The main floor also featured private parlors, bath rooms, the third and fourth floors are mostly devoted to sleeping apartments with ample accommodations in the way of bath rooms and water closets....there are 80 sleeping rooms in the hotel and every room is in telegraphic communication with the office by means of Mighaut's Electric Annunciator.
“The rooms are arranged in suites, parlor and bedroom adjoining. Indeed, in this respect the Brooks House is vastly superior to the average hotel and may justly challenge comparison with any of the first class hotels in the country. The crowning feature of the hotel is the ball room. This is located in the center tower, and occupies the whole area, being 45 feet square and 16 feet in height. Three windows on each side look out upon the surrounding village and upon the hotel itself, excepting only the corner tower, which is much smaller but rises to a great height.....In the construction of this immense block more than 1,000,000 brick were used, about 500,000 feet of lumber and $4,000 worth of glass."
With a small population of around 6,000 people, it might seem that building one of the largest hotels in New England in humble Brattleboro could have been a mistake. To understand Brooks' thinking, one needs to understand that during the times in which it was built, people traveled mostly by train and often remained at a point of interest for an entire summer. With only a short walk from the train station to the hotel, and with Boston and New York a few hours away by rail, Brattleboro was a friendly, rural, and intellectually stimulating town only a day away, making it a destination town for tourists.
Hotels of the day, also housed local people, especially unmarried gentleman like Brooks.
At the time of the opening of the hotel, another article in the local paper wished its prosperous citizen well with thanks for providing the town with another economic opportunity after a major fire.
“In company with his brothers Horace and Frank, the latter now a resident of this village - he accumulated a handsome property as a wholesale paper dealer in San Francisco, and now in the prime of life, has returned to the scenes of his early aspirations and enjoyments, to fulfill for Brattleboro that golden dream of all ambitious villagers, the desire for a 'first-class hotel.' That he may live long to enjoy the fruits of his munificence and public enterprise is the sincere wish of all.”
Near the end of his life, Brooks purchased the Goodhue homestead on Main Street with the intention of building a library and donating it to the town, to be opened in 1886. Interviewed by the local press at the time he announced his gift it was reported that he was so modest and embarrassed by the attention that he was receiving, he “blushed like a school boy.”
That beautiful original library building was demolished to make way for the Post Office parking lot in June of 1971, and the present library down the street was opened.
At the time of his death, his estate was valued at over $1 million. With few family members remaining, a majority of his will was given to charities, including the new library.