Grand Canyon Hotel

145 W Route 66, Williams, AZ 86046
Phone: 928-635-1419 Link

East < GO > West

The Grand Canyon Hotel building was constructed in 1891 by C. E. Boyce and opened for business in January 1892. It has undergone extensive remodeling at least three times, 1920, 1937, and 2004. It's also gone through several owners and for a couple of years in the late 1930s was known as the Gaddis Hotel.

The original brick is showing where the stucco, applied in the late 1930s, has fallen off on the side. The hotel was closed for 30 years or so after the town was bypassed by I-40. It was renovated in 2004 and reopened in 2005.

The hotel entrance is under the "Hotel" sign, the corner entrance leads to a retail shop that was the Central Drug Store originally and was Smith's Drug Store in the early 1950's.

The hotel's neon sign proudly declares "Since 1891", and under the "VACANCY" sign it says "$3.50 & Up". That might make one long for the "Good Old Days", but you can be sure those are just historic rates, probably from when the sign was installed, and not the rates today. Standing on the corner of 2nd Street and Route 66 for well over 100 years it claims to be the oldest hotel in Arizona.

This is the second neon sign at this hotel, the first was installed on the roof top in 1938 and displayed the Gaddis Hotel name. Mr. Gaddis had bought the hotel in 1936 and changed the name. That sign was much larger being about 12 feet long and 4-1/2 feet tall with 15 inch tall letters making pretty much visible from both ends of town at the time. It apparently was removed when new owners bought the hotel in 1939 and reverted to the Grand Canyon Hotel.

The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Williams Historic Business District.

Photo(s): 2013