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Building History

The Appleton Hotel was built to house tourists visiting Watsonville during its popular "Apple Annual" agricultural festival inaugurated in 1910. The financial windfall generated by the first Apple Annual convinced investors that a first-class hotel was needed in town quickly, resulting in the rapid construction of the Appleton Hotel in 1911. Local architect William H. Weeks (1864-1936) designed the building. An historic preservation document preparted for the City of Watsonville stated: "The Appleton Hotel was built in 1911 with huge popular support. The success of the 1910 Apple Annual was marked with large numbers of overnight visitors to Watsonville. Other than the Mansion House, very little high-quality lodging existed so the citizens saw the need for a new, modern hotel to exemplify their successful and prosperous city. The result was the Appleton Hotel, designed by W.H. Weeks." (See "Historic Context Statement for the City of Watsonville, Final Report," [San Francisco: Circa, 2007], p. 82.)

PCAD id: 20977