The American House Hotel

The American House Hotel opened about 1865 in Dover in what had originally been a private residence, established by William B. Smith. After Smith’s death, his wife ran it through 1867 before selling it to Col. Adams T. Peirce and L.P. True. By 1878, Peirce and True, incorporated as the A.T. Peirce Co., had added Thomas K. Cushman as a partner and built an annex, chiefly to accommodate former mayor Dr. James Lothrop and his wife, who lived there for many years. Peirce later moved to Fall River, Massachusetts, to open the Narragansett Hotel, but the A.T. Peirce Company continued owning the American House Hotel and adjacent livery stables in Dover until Peirce’s death in 1910 and later Cushman’s death in 1914. On October 23, 1912, thousands gathered before the hotel’s porch to hear a short speech by President William Howard Taft as he traveled to Poland Springs, Maine and stopped in Dover to greet loyal Republicans and more than 2000 schoolchildren given the day off for the occasion, while thirty boy cadets from Saint Charles School in full military uniform lined the steps to welcome him. Modern amenities including electric lights, steam heat, baths, garage facilities, and a telephone in each room attracted motorists and businessmen. Around 1920, the hotel closed for a time, then reopened in 1924 as the New American House under owner William E. Wiggin, who offered American and European plans and livery services featuring heavy and long distance hauling. By 1933, Mrs. Madeline T. Reynolds had taken over, advertising newly decorated and renovated rooms, closing the livery stable permanently, and opening a new Grill Room promoted as a licensed liquor dispenser, with rooms at $1.50 per night. In 1938, the Dover Hotel Company, Inc. assumed management of the American House. Though promoted as New Hampshire’s distinctive place to dine and the leading hotel in a progressive city, it was sold again in 1950 to Robert J. Smith, its last owner, whose advertisements listed 75 rooms, 50 baths, and a Crystal Dining Room; in the late 1950s, a coffee shop was added. By 1966, after a century as a Dover fixture, the American House was demolished and replaced by the Imperial motel in 1968, renamed the In-Towne by 1970, and later becoming part of the Days Inn chain in 1990.

Dover, New Hampshire · United States