Ithaca Hotel

The forty-third annual convention of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association (NYSWSA) was held at Ithaca on Tuesday through Friday, October 31–November 3, 1911.

The Ithaca Hotel served as the convention headquarters. Approximately 200 women delegates attended the convention.

The Building and Site. The Ithaca Hotel at North Aurora and East State Streets was the second structure of that name to occupy the site. The original Ithaca Hotel was built in 1809 by Luther Gere. When it burned down in 1871, it was quickly replaced by a four-story brick hotel in then-contemporary style, which opened in 1872. Designed by Ithaca architect A. B. Dale, the hotel could accommodate 200 guests and 175 diners. The building was demolished in 1967. Though unsuccessful, local opposition to the hotel's demolition helped catalyze Ithaca's historic-preservation movement, now embodied in the organization Historic Ithaca.

The hotel was replaced by a mixed-use commercial building that overlooks the western terminus of Ithaca Commons, the city's downtown pedestrian mall.

Thanks to Patricia Longoria for research assistance.