Danbury Once Had One of the Premiere Hotels In Connecticut

If you were to visit Danbury anytime from the turn of the 20th century until the late 1950s, there's a good chance you may have stayed at one of the most prestigious hotels around.

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It was called the Hotel Green and the doors officially opened in 1908. Until the late 50s, it was "the" place to be seen and stay in Danbury.

With 150 rooms, the Peacock Ballroom, the Mad Hatter Tap Room, a cafeteria, and even its own barber shop on the lower level, the hotel had all the amenities that a traveler would want when visiting the Hat City.

Here's what Brigid Guertin of the Danbury Museum and Historical Society had to say about the hotel:

The Hotel was architecturally dramatic. it was the dominate structure downtown. It was a central part of the city. Located right in the center of  Danbury, it gave guests easy access to shopping, the railroad station and of course, the Great Danbury Fair and race track.

If there was a big event in Danbury during that time, there's a good chance it was happening at the Hotel Green. It was the site of weddings, hat company dinners,  even going away parties for soldiers who were headed over seas to defend our country during World War I and World War II. They even held a going away party for "Jim Beam" when prohibition was enacted and drank the hotel's liquor supply dry.

If you were a guest back in the day, it would cost you $1 for a single bed and $2 for two beds. By 1940, you could get a room with two beds and a bathroom for between $4 and $6.

If you wanted to take advantage of their Sunday dinner menu, you could have gotten broiled salmon in butter sauce and a potato for just 50 cents, or a half-broiled spring chicken and potatoes for 75 cents. Or maybe breaded veal cutlets with spaghetti for 45 cents.

In 1959, the hotel went through a complete remodeling and as Danbury headed into the 60s, the name was changed to the New Englander Motor Hotel. It was still one of the hot spots in town, but it had lost some of its swagger.

In 1975, the building was purchased by the City, and with the need for senior housing, kitchens were added to the rooms and it then became Ives Manor.

Today, the building is home to the Danbury Housing Authority and to over 90 seniors, a few of which may have actually spent a night at the Hotel Green.

Special thanks to the Danbury Historical Society, and speakhim via ebay for information and images for this article.