Off Shore Muse

Hotel Lenhart Staff

Circa July 17, 1959

The Lenhart family's long tradition of tourist accommodations was begun by Dr. John J. Lenhart who combined the unlikely professions of medical doctor and hotel manager beginning in 1879. In that year, Dr. Lenhart who had been born in Pittsburgh in 1845, came to Bemus Point from Ellery Center where he had carried on a thriving practice for eight years. After the family was settled in Bemus Point, Lenhart and his wife joined her mother in the operation of a small boarding house while he also continued to practice medicine.

Three years later, after noting the increase in demand for summer vacation spots around the lake, Doctor Lenhart built the first hotel which carried the family name. It had a choice location on the point near the ferry landing. When the hotel opened for business during the summer of 1882 it was described as being "unsurpassed for sightliness and comfort" with its graceful lines, mansard roof, dormers, peaks and ornamental tower. Both the front, which extended 82 feet along Lakeside Drive and the 65 foot south end had broad verandas which offered extensive views of the lake. The forty sleeping rooms on the upper floors could accommodate eighty guests. A large lobby, parlor, dining room and kitchen occupied the first level. Lumber for the frame structure was brought up the lake by scows after it was unloaded from the N.Y.P.&O depot in Jamestown.

Summers in the mid and late 1880's found the Bemus Point hotels, large and small, fully occupied week after week. Off season the owners were busy with upkeep and maintenance in the anticipation of the next summer season. In 1890, the Lenharts completely redecorated the hotel with new wallpaper, paint, carpeting and built a tennis court for their guest's recreation.

Due to an October 1891 fire which completely destroyed the original Hotel Lenhart, the family drew plans for a second, larger tourist accommodation on the same site. In May of the following year it was announced the new hotel would be open for guests by June 1, 1892. The replacement cost of the hotel was $15,000 but the result was a hotel that was "twice as large and more modern. The new hotel's seventy rooms would now accommodate 150 guests.

Dr. Lenhart continued in charge of the second Hotel Lenhart in the early years of the 1900s, eventually passing managerial duties over to his daughter, Mrs. Charlotte Johnston. He retired from his medical practice around 1908 and passed in 1914 at the age of 70. The Johnston family, third generation members of the Lenhart family, continued to own and operate the hotel for many years.

The hotel was 100 years old in 1992 with the Athenaeum Hotel on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution being the only two hotels remaining from Chautauqua Lake's busy resort hotel era.