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This Day in History Class is a production of I Heart

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Radio.

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Hello and Welcome to This Day

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in History Class, a show that reveals

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a little bit more about history day

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by day. I'm Gabe Louizier,

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and today we're looking at an important

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milestone in the struggle for American

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women to be accepted as independent

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citizens, the opening of

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the nation's first successful hotel

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for single working women. The

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day was March two three.

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The Women's Hotel opened its doors

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as the only hotel in New York City

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to provide lodging exclusively

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for professional women. At

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the time, it was widely considered

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unseemly for a single, old woman

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to stay at a hotel. In

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fact, it was general practice and

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most respectable hotels to never

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admit a woman as a guest unless

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she was accompanied by her husband or

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was checking in as a member of a family

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with a patriarch. However,

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by the turn of the twentieth century, long

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standing restraints on women's behavior

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were gradually giving way.

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A growth in manufacturing and industry

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had boosted demand for female labor,

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and many roles in business and the

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arts were now being filled by women

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for the first time. There were

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also new opportunities for education,

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as more institutions began accepting

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female students into advanced programs.

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Unfortunately, most cities housing

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markets didn't keep pace with this

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progress. As a result,

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when thousands of single working women

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began moving to urban areas, they

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had a difficult time finding somewhere

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to live. At first,

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cities made little attempt to accommodate

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the new growing workforce. Many

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women had to settle for less than ideal

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living conditions, like a shared bedroom

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and a tenement building, or a rented

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room in a predominantly male boarding

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house. Those kinds of accommodations

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weren't only uncomfortable for the female

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lodgers, they were also viewed

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with suspicion by the rest of society

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at the time. Many looked at single women

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as nothing but future wives and

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mothers. This resulted in

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an oppressive focus on preserving

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female chastity and innocence,

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or at least the appearance of it. So

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on one hand, the country was changing

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and finally offering new opportunities

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for women, but on the other hand,

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many of the long standing expectations

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of a male centric society remained

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in place. This tension

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continued for decades in cities

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all over the country. With New York

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City being one of the first places to take

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on the challenge of providing decent

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urban housing for young working women.

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The idea of a hotel just for women

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was first proposed in eighteen sixty

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nine by a retail store owner

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named Alexander T. Stewart. He

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had noticed that his stores employed a

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lot of young women, most of whom struggled

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to find appropriate housing. To

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remedy the problem and to open

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a new stream of revenue for himself, Stewart

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began building what he called the Hotel

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for Working Women. He described

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it as the first hotel of its kind, a

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place for quote industrious

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young women to foster individuality

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and self dependence, in which lodging,

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food, and warmth, with other essentials

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may be furnished at the lowest possible

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rates. The hotel

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was completed in eighteen seventy eight,

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but unfortunately Stewart didn't live

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to see it. His successors

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had less faith in the project than he

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had. Within a year of its opening,

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the property was sold and converted

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into the Park Avenue Hotel, an

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establishment that mostly catered to wealthy

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men. The idea of a women's

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hotel fell by the wayside for nearly

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thirty years, but eventually the

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housing crisis for working women became

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too great to ignore. In eighteen

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ninety seven, a group of reformers

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partnered with high profile investors

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and founded the Women's Hotel Company.

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Its stated mission was to build quote

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high grade hotels for the exclusive

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accommodation of business and professional

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women. After a brief

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delay due to the Spanish American War,

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the group was finally ready to start construction

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in nineteen o one. The company

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purchased two lots of land on East

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twenty ninth and East thirtieth Streets,

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and then hired a British born architect

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named Robert W. Gibson to design

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the twelve story hotel. Although

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it had been funded by a mix of female

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and male investors, including

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John D. Rockefeller, by the time

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the hotel opened in nineteen o three,

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much of the stock in the company was owned

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by individual women who just believed

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in the idea. When the Women's

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Hotel opened its doors on March two,

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it welcomed both overnight and long

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term guests. In total,

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there were four hundred and sixteen

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single rooms and apartments, most

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of which were rented for a dollar fifty per

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day. The rooms themselves

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were small and came equipped only

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with a sink. The three dozen or

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so women on each floor had to share

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four common bathtubs and four toilets.

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An early promotional brochure boasted

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that the hotel was quote well

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appointed, thoroughly modern, strictly

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fireproof, and equipped with every

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facility for the comfort of its guests.

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Women's wit has been used to

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provide the little necessities and comforts

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so much appreciated by her. To

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be more specific, hotels amenities

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included a drug store, a tailor

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shop, a manicurist, a shoe

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polishing parlor, a newspaper

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stand, a library, a rooftop

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promenade, a private dining room,

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and a separate restaurant open to

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the public. Mail guests

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were only permitted on the first floor,

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but the workforce did include some

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men. Initially, the hotel

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employed men to carry suitcases

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and to work the elevators. In

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the hotel second year, the bell boys

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were replaced with women, who were considered

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more reliable by the manager. The

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male elevator operators stuck around

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until nine seventeen, at which

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point they too were replaced with women.

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On its first night in operation, the

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Women's hotel was fully occupied,

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with five hundred registered guests and

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about two hundred more on the waiting list.

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It was a successful opening by any

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measure, but that didn't keep the hotel

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from being mocked in the press. For

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instance, The New York Times wrote

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that quote, there is something essentially

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funny in the implications of a hotel

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conducted exclusively for women.

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The Times also noted the presence

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of the bell boys, which had considered a necessity

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as suitcases quote would be

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too heavy for girls. In

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its early years of operation. This

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jeering press coverage turned the hotel

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into something of a tourist attraction.

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In nineteen o four, one resident

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wrote a letter to The Times complaining

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that groups of people had started pulling up

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to the hotel to gawk at the guests,

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as if they were quote a new kind

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of freak. Male outsiders

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may have viewed the women's hotel as an object

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of amusement, but for the female professionals

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who stayed there, it was nothing short

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of a godsend. One guest

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hailed it as quote so superior

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to the New York Boarding and Lodging House

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that it cannot be considered in the same

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breath. If you're wondering what

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kind of women quented the hotel. We

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actually have a nice breakdown thanks

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to the nineteen ten census. It

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shows that the Women's Hotel served a

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wide variety of professionals, including

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artists, teachers, bookkeepers, musicians,

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writers, nurses, stenographers,

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and at least one insurance broker.

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The average age of guests was between

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forty five and fifty, though a

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few were in their twenties and somewhere in their

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seventies. In addition to

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housing women, the hotel also

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hosted women's organizations. For

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example, in nineteen o seven it served

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as the headquarters for the Interurban Women's

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Suffrage Council. In nineteen

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twenty, the founding companies sold

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the property to the Martha Washington

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Hotel Corporation, at which

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point it was renamed the Martha Washington

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Women's Hotel. It continued

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to be operated under that name for most

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of the twentieth century, and even

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as societal views shifted, the hotel

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continued to serve only women

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until by

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that point, the year old

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building was looking pretty run down and

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more than a little old fashioned. In

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recent years, it's been renovated and

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reopened under new names by

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several different owners. At the

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time of recording. It's known as the Red

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Berry, New York Hotel, and

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rooms are available to both women and

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men, single or otherwise,

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just be prepared to pay a little more than

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a dollar fifty.

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I'm Gabelusier and hopefully

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you now know a little more about history

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today than you did yesterday.

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If you'd like to keep up with the show, you can

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follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram

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at t d i HC Show,

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and if you have any comments or suggestions,

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you can always send them my way at this

9:51

day at i heeart media dot com.

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Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show,

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and thank you for listening. I'll see you

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back here again tomorrow for another

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Day in History class. For

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more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart

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