Last Friday, (10/6/23) featured a photograph of Westwood’s Hotel Saville. It confused some readers, as they did not think that the Red River Lumber Company allowed and/or operated hotels in Westwood. Those readers are correct.

Red River, in its own peculiar way, named their boarding houses “hotels.” These facilities housed single men, while houses were reserved for families. The Hotel Saville was built in 1913, and was one of the first rooming houses constructed there for Red River’s employees. It was a substantial structure with 250 rooms. Initially it housed Spaniards. In a bit of trivia, when T.B. Walker visited New York City on financial matters, he always stayed at the Hotel Saville.

On Sunday night, March 30, 1918 a fire broke out on the the lower floor of the Saville.  The fire spread quickly and some five hundred men battled the blaze. Every effort was made to contain the fire, for fear it might spread to neighboring Westwood Club and Opera House.

Tim