Many of the buildings on South Broadway have had their basic structure for more than 100 years. In 1881, Stephen Seeley built the Cataract Hotel here, and over the years it became known as the Swift House, Hotel Taylor, and then the Park Hotel. An 1884 Orion Review advertisement highlighted the Swift House's location overlooking "the beautiful lake" near the Detroit and Bay City Railroad Depot and its excellent stabling for horses. In the 1970s, the building was known as the Ver-Wood Bar and Hotel before later becoming the Verwood apartments. In 1902, a fire destroyed all the buildings on the west side of Broadway between Front and Flint Street except the Verwood building. Those buildings had been made of wood, but after the fire they were rebuilt in the masonry construction seen today. In 1911, an ice house for storing blocks of ice for refrigeration was built in this part of town, and John Winter bought the island and developed it, along with his park, as a summer resort, adding amusements to the island.