Building History
Newspaper coverage on March 20, 1924>>
The hotel was built as the Hotel Northland for Walter Schroeder, whose other Wisconsin hotels included the Schroeder in Milwaukee, The Retlaw (Walter spelled backwards) in Fond du Lac, and the Lorraine in Madison. Employing elements of Tudor/Elizabethan Revival style, the hotel building is constructed of reinforced concrete with a brick and stucco facade.
The Hotel Northland opened on March 21, 1924 as the largest hotel in Wisconsin. When constructed, the $1,000,000 hotel boasted the finest ballroom outside of Milwaukee, and the newest and most efficient facilities in the region. The Chicago & Northwestern Railroad brought guests, whose combined net worth reputedly exceeded $50 million, to the dedication on a train dubbed "The $50,000,000 Special".
The hotel's Crystal Ballroom held many memorable social events, including the "Washington Colonial Ball" commemorating Washington's Bicentennial in1932, proms, formal dances, and charity dinners. The four private dining rooms provided unparalleled comfort and distinction in the city.
As Green Bay's leading hotel for decades, many national figures utilized the building as both hotel and meeting place, including actor Lon Chaney, politicians such as Vice President Richard Nixon, Adlai Stevenson, Robert Kennedy, Senators John F. Kennedy, and Eugene McCarthy. There has also been a strong link to Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers as opposing teams routinely lodged at the hotel through the 1960s.
The hotel was transformed into a mixed use commercial and residential property in the 1970's.