When we first started this project in 2016, my family all had different duties to perform to bring this idea of a boutique hotel to life.  My duty was to come up with a theme for each room based on the history of Williamsport.

Seem easy?  Well ... I am not ashamed to tell you ... I had one course of action:  take what's available, and then run with it!

For the first nineteen rooms (covering three phases of construction) I turned to our local library.  Not knowing me from Adam, I have to admit there was a slight hesitation on the part of the librarians at the James V. Brown Library, which, by the way, has a beautiful story to tell about its own history.  I basically marched in one day with nothing but a smile and an idea, hoping I would find a few people that were as excited as I. If you know me, you know that is quite a challenge, as it is hard to keep my enthusiasm in a box.  But I did manage to sell my idea to a willing (although not so enthusiastic) candidate. 

And so it began ... one photograph at a time. The J.V. Brown's collection not only fulfilled my needs, it took me down a rabbit hole of which I am still happily sliding in and out.  Over the years, I have dealt with several different men and women that serve as protectors of a timeless collection, all of which were wonderful.  I cannot thank the James V. Brown Library enough for putting up with my countless visits.  And here, I need to throw in a "shout-out" to my friend Rob up at Hoyer's, who waited (I am sure with bated breath) for me to deliver the priceless goods to him so that he could scan them at an extremely high resolution, throw them on a thumb drive, and have them back into the library's hands the next day.

One photograph, say for instance, of the lumber boom, led me to another, and then another, until finally I had enough photographs to get started with a room ... ultimately, Room 309, "The Lumber Room."  And if I told you how many hours I have lovingly put into the restoration of each piece of history that adorns the walls here at the hotel, you might just think I was crazy.

One photo alone (the National Guard picture in the main lobby) took upwards of FIFTY hours. Was it worth it? I don't regret one minute of the time spent bringing these old moments back to life.

So now I have a room, a theme, and a half dozen open-aperture flashes of the past.  The rest is, well, "History."

However, nineteen historical themes, countless hours of tedious computer work, and more than a hundred restored photos later, I decided I was tapping my resources dry.

"It Takes a Village" to bring something so monumental to the city of Williamsport.

More passionately energized than ever, I became emboldened!  Now, armed with a hotel full of what would double as my new portfolio, I reached out to the community.  Thinking back to the countless phone calls, none of which were anything but pleasantly received, I am still amazed at the lengths people went to that allowed me to continue to the completion of a final room count of thirty.  I actually had to create a "Thank You Lobby" to express my appreciation to the organizations that opened up their photo collections to me.  The Legacy Rooms on the first floor, followed by the Market Square Rooms on the second, would not exist if not for the time, effort, and generosity of so many people and the organizations they represent.

It does take a village ... or city ... to bring so much history to the people that not only live here, but to every visitor that enters the doors of our hotel.

And like that day when throngs came out to mourn the loss of their beloved chief on September 16, 1901, we hope that every Williamsporter can take pride in those precious moments that are such a tremendous part of what we represent here at the City Hall Grand Hotel.