The Willard Hotel

[Laurie Verge]

Those of you who are members of the Surratt Society will soon receive your October newsletter with a great article on the history of Washington's famous Willard Hotel. Since sending the newsletter to the printer, I happened upon a small brochure that the current Willard Intercontinental Washington puts out on the history. Here's some Lincoln-related facts for you to memorize so that I can test you on them later:

The site on which the hotel stands has been home to hostelries since 1816, but it did not become the center of social and political life in Washington until brothers Henry and Edwin Willard bought the property in the 1850s.

Kentucky Senator Henry Clay mixed Washington's first Mint Julep in the Willard's Round Robin Bar, and the drink remains the signature cocktail of the establishment today. In 1862, Walt Whitman included mention of the Round Robin in an appeal to rally the troops for Second Bull Run.

While covering the Civil War for The Atlantic Monthly, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote, "This hotel, in fact, may be much more justly called the center of Washington and the Union than either the Capitol, the White House, or the State Department..."

The Willard has hosted every president as either a sleeping guest or a guest at a social function since Zachary Taylor in 1850. Andrew Johnson actually lived there while serving in the Senate.

We all know that Lincoln was smuggled into the Willard on February 23, 1861, after his covert arrival from Pennsylvania. The Lincoln family lived there until his inauguration in March, and Lincoln held staff meetings in front of the lobby fireplace. The hotel was literally bursting at the seams with crowds for the inauguration, housing as many as ten guests to a room. After the inauguration, the Lincolns returned to the Willard to view the inaugural parade.

When the Lincolns moved to the White House, Lincoln paid his ten-day bill at the Willard with his first presidential paycheck. The total bill for the family, including meals, was $773.75.

The first Japanese delegation to the U.S. stayed at the hotel in 1860 - three ambassadors and an entourage of 74. One of the delegates wrote, "The house of the Secretary of State is not as fine as the hotel."

The Willard was the site of the Peace Convention from February 4-27, 1861. Delegates from 21 of the 34 states met in a final attempt to avoid the Civil War. A plaque paying tribute to this effort is now mounted on the Pennsylvania Avenue facade of the hotel.

Julia Ward Howe was inspired to write The Battle Hymn of the Republic while a guest at the Willard in 1861. She was awakened to the sound of Union troops marching under her window and singing John Brown's Body. She decided that the tune needed more dignified words, so she rose from her bed and began to write.

Some post-Civil War trivia: President Grant would leave the pressures of his office behind at the end of the day and retire to the lobby of the Willard for brandy and cigars. Some think that the term "lobbyist" started with this practice because he would be surrounded by power-brokers hawking ideas. Actually, the term pre-dates Grant.

During the 1870s, the price of a room at the Willard rose to $4/night. More luxurious accommodations were available with private baths. The Willard installed mechanical elevators during this period and also sold the first ice cream sodas in Washington.

As Porky Pig would say, "That's all folks!"