Location Sauk Centre, Minnesota NRHP Reference # 82003047 | Built 1901 Added to NRHP February 11, 1982 | |
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The Palmer House is an historic hotel, located on South Main Street at the corner of South 3rd Street (now Sinclair Lewis Avenue) in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, in the United States. On February 11, 1982 the hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It is also a member of the Minnesota Hotel & Lodging Association and National Restaurant Association and is AAA approved.
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History
The Palmer House was built in 1901 by Ralph L. Palmer on the site of the Sauk Centre House, which had burned down on June 26, 1900. This hotel became the first building in Sauk Centre to have electricity.
Sinclair Lewis, who worked in the Palmer House as a young man, used it as the model for the "Minniemashie House" in his 1920 novel Main Street, which in turn was modeled on Sauk Centre.
The supernatural
Various people have reported paranormal activity at the Palmer House. The Palmer House held its first paranormal seminar January 18–20, 2008; attendees included television personalities Chris Fleming and Patrick Burns, Darkness On The Edge Of Town radio host David Schrader, and other paranormal experts. The Palmer House is featured in the fourth episode of season 7 on Ghost Adventures, where they investigate the building with Dave Schrader.
Many stories and videos have displayed the happenings here. One of the more common accounts is that there was a little boy who died when he was staying at the hotel, and now many people hear and see him bouncing a ball in the hallway. Many more experiences are listed at [1]. Many of the rooms in the hotel seem to have plenty of paranormal activity. The majority of guests who stay leave with many fun stories of visits by "unregistered guests". A newlywed couple staying in the hotel reported one night the wife woke up suddenly to see a lanky man dressed in 1920′s-30′s clothing standing at the foot of the bed.
Size
As originally built, the hotel comprised 38 small rooms with guests sharing a common "necessary room" (lavatory) off the hall. There are now 19 rooms, including three economy rooms, eight standard rooms, one economy suite, three suites, three jacuzzi suites, and one double jacuzzi suites.