THE SIDNEY HOTEL (3)

The last known hotel to be named Sidney was at 210 S. Main, just south of the Jail.  This could not have been the location of the hotel operated by A.S. Robbins in 1881, for the side of this later hotel was an empty lot on the map of Sidney in 1884.

Earlier mention found of the hotel south of the Jail was an item of 14 March 1924 in the SIDNEY DAILY NEWS: “Mrs. Martin Schumaker, Akron, has lesed the second and third floors of the Oldham building on South Main, over the Knupp garage, and about the first of April will open a hotel and rooming house.  It will be named the Sidney Hotel.  Mrs. Schumaker has engaged in the same kind of business in Akron for a number of years.”

Ads for Mrs. Schumaker’s hotel appeared in Sidney directories from the late 1920s to 1944.

Early Sunday morning, 26 December 1944, a spectacular fire destroyed the Oldham building, along with six business establishments and the Sidney Hotel.  At that time 13 persons resided in the hotel and boarding house.  All escaped safely.  Losses in the fire were estimated at $52,500.