We'll Leave the Lights On: Hotels of Crawford County

Hotel Conneaut with new south and north wings added - 1920's

What do the coming of the railroad, the discovery of oil, a major lakeside resort, the healthful promise of mineral springs and travel have in common? The answer lies in the role they played in the development of the hotel business in Crawford County. To list every hotel from the early days of Crawford County would be an exhaustive exercise; and thus we are limited to highlighting a short list of notables.

The Curious of Life of Phil Miller and his Friend Mark Twain

1865 map showing the site off Miller's home

Of the names associated with the history of Conneaut Lake, none carries the intrigue of Phil Miller. Philip W. Miller was a boat builder and expert outdoorsman with contradictory love for public oratory and quiet eccentricity. The facts surrounding Miller are as hazy as the morning mist rising above the waters of the lake he would become synonymous with. Even his arrival in the newly incorporated town of Evansburg in the 1850’s is clouded with vagaries and rumors. Some claimed he showed up with his wife Annie, along with a Negro man, and another woman. Wilder tales have Miller appearing in prison garb, on the run from the law for killing a man.

Whatever the case, Miller, we do know, took up residence along the west side of the lake on Hotchkiss Island, a piece of high ground cut off from the mainland by the dammed up waters feeding the Beaver and Erie Canal system. Once here, he soon ingratiated himself into the community becoming a member of the congregation at the Methodist church which he and Annie attended regularly.

How the Trolley Arrived at Conneaut Lake Park

Allegheny students wait at the Exposition Park trolley station - 1913

On May 30, 1906, the Meadville and Conneaut Lake Traction (M&CLT) Company formed with a goal of bringing trolley service to Exposition Park (Conneaut Lake Park today).  A suitable route was agreed upon that would continue from where the tracks left off in Fredricksburg and then follow the general course of the Cussewago Road to Harmonsburg (vicinity of Routes 102 and 3016) before turning south, crossing the lake’s inlet, and entering the park along Comstock Street. 100 immigrant laborers, primarily Italians, along with two freight cars full of work horses were assembled and brought in later that summer to begin the arduous task of grading an earthen avenue, laying the 85 pound rails, and stringing the overhead electric wire.