Sheriff’s Hammer Sets the Price: Hotel Olympia Sold for $48,322.30
With no other bidders, A. H. Chambers and J. F. Gowey bought in the hotel for the Hotel Olympia Company—then the trustees named T. I. McKenny president.
The Olympia Hotel was bought in at sheriff’s sale at 2 o’clock today by A. H. Chambers and J. F. Gowey, representing the Hotel Olympia Company. There were no other bidders. The price paid was $48,322.30.
The trustees of the Hotel Olympia Company held a meeting in the First National Bank building last night and elected officers. T. I. McKenny was chosen president; George A. Barnes, vice-president; S. C. Woodruff, secretary, and A. A. Phillips, treasurer.
“There were no other bidders.”
A landmark hotel changing hands at a sheriff’s sale is a very 1891 way of showing how boom-time real estate could collapse into debt. Olympia’s current housing and commercial-property debates still turn on who can carry the mortgage—and who gets shut out when the auction comes.
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