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Overview

This was one of three hotels/boarding houses named the "Leland Hotel" (or "Leland House Hotel,") that operated in Seattle, WA, during the 1890-1910 period. It would become, by 1907, one of the more notorious inns/saloons in Seattle's Pioneer Square neighborhood.

Building History

The Leland House Hotel was in operation in 1890. In 1890-1891 (and perhaps 1892), Willard A. Morse managed the hotel. (See Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1890, p. 440 and Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1891, p. 498.) Thomas R. Hughes operated itl from at least 1893 until 1897. (See Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1893, p. 576 and Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1897, p. 482.)

By 1907, the Leland Hotel occupied the upper stories of the building at 312 1st Avenue South, and the Fountain Saloon operated below it, both owned by Tony Simich. In 10/1907, a bar patron named Steve Niksick was gunned down and killed in the bar and a few weeks later, an Austrian customer, Christ Taporich, was coaxed from the Fountain to the hotel above where he was beaten and robbed of $25 in gold. These and other incidents made Simich notorious to police. The Seattle Daily Times wrote on 11/09/1907: "According to the police, Simich's saloon is one of the most disorderly in the city. Simich has been in trouble many times himself and his barroom occasions a visit from the patrolmen on the beat almost every night. This last crime may result in the police recommending to the mayor that he revoke the license held by Simich." (See "Man Beaten and Robbed," Seattle Daily Times, 11/09/1907, p. 3.)

PCAD id: 22091