333 Main Street West
Wabasha, MN, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Hurd House-Anderson Hotel

Statement of Significance:

From a small settlement known as Cratt's Landing in 1843, the Rivertown of Wabasha experienced rapid growth in population and economic development. By the 1880's it was both a bustling steamboat port and railroad town. Among the prospering enterprises were a steam planning mill, a soap factory, two feed mills, two flour mills, two brick yards, two breweries, numerous general and hardware stores, three schools, railroad yards and roundhouse, a public library, extensive lumberyards, and eight hotels.

One of the earliest of the aforementioned eight hotels was the Hurd House, constructed in 1856 by B.S. Hurd. The hotel was greatly expanded with the addition a three-story brick section in 1887. It remained known as the Hurd House until 1909 when the name was changed to the Anderson House, later Anderson Hotel, and presently back to the Anderson House. Throughout its existence the hotel has occupied a prominent location in Wabasha; it is at the corner of Main and Bridge Streets, only one block from the Mississippi River and steamboat landings and at the intersection of two major commercial streets. The proprietorship of the hotel has been -a family-oriented operation since the construction of the first two-story brick hotel section in 1856; it is now in the fourth generation of family ownership.