Dickson / Steuben Hotel

Margaret Sanger’s autobiography contains many vague or dubious claims about her early childhood. Among them is her declaration that her father invited radical political economist Henry George to speak at "the leading hotel." Sanger’s father was a freethinker who had invited other prominent lecturers to Corning, including agnostic orator Robert Green Ingersoll (for an account, click here). If the Henry George story is accurate, "the leading hotel" of the time would have been the Dickson Hotel, which occupies this site.

The Dickson no longer exists, having been demolished in the 1920s. Its successor on the site, the seven-story Renaissance Revival Baron Steuben Hotel, opened in 1929. The structure still stands, though the hotel eventually closed. The building has been renovated as a mixed-use commercial structure. Its ground floor houses Baron Steuben Place, the central information site for visitors to Corning.