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Throwback Thursday: The Attaway
By: Eric D. Tudor
Some of you may remember The Laclede Hotel, which stood proudly for many years at the corner of Commercial and Jefferson. The site we’re talking about is where several businesses reside today, including B’s Sweets, and sits across Jefferson Avenue from the Lingsweiler Building, home to the Laclede Record and Cali and Co.
But before The Laclede Hotel, there was another, lesser-known but equally impressive hotel—The Attaway Hotel. This lavish establishment rivaled hotels in St. Louis and Kansas City and faced the railroad tracks.
Built around 1868–1869 by entrepreneur Harrison Attaway, The Attaway Hotel was a grand, Victorian-style, two-story structure featuring a wraparound porch on both the Jefferson and railroad sides. It also had a walkway leading directly to the original railroad depot, which at the time sat in the middle of Jefferson and the tracks. Inside, multiple fireplaces warmed both floors, and the hotel boasted a fine restaurant, though it did not extend all the way to Commercial Street.
Unfortunately, in 1883, the hotel was lost to a fire sparked by embers from a passing steam engine. Within a year, The Laclede Hotel rose in its place, continuing the tradition of hospitality at that corner of downtown Lebanon.
