Long before interstate highways redirected traffic around small towns, Clinton, Michigan, sat directly in the path of travelers moving between Detroit and Chicago. By the start of the 20th century, a new brick hotel stood ready to serve them.
The Clintonian Hotel was built by Clinton businessman Alonzo Clark and officially opened on Thanksgiving Day in 1901. The three-story brick building replaced an earlier structure on a site with roots reaching back to Clinton’s first permanent settlement. According to the Clinton Inn’s history, the hotel originally had 35 small guest rooms.
It was hardly luxurious by modern standards. The original building did not have running water or indoor plumbing. Those improvements came later. Fireplaces provided heat before a steam boiler system was installed.
The hotel was built for a traveling public that included more than tourists. One first-floor room was known as the drummer’s room. In the language of the era, a drummer was a traveling salesman. Such men carried samples and needed places to meet merchants and show their products. The hotel also had a dining room catering to business travellers.
Its location mattered. Clinton had grown along the old Chicago Road, an early route linking Detroit with Chicago. The road passed directly through the village and became part of US 12. Michigan paved the route through Clinton in 1925…