Visiting the Columbian Hotel, 17 years later

In late May this past spring, I took a golf trip to Western Minnesota with a golf buddy from work. He is originally from Benson, MN, so that was one of the towns we visited on our three-day trip, during which we played four golf courses.

Another town we visited was Ortonville, MN, located on the south part of the "hump" of Minnesota's western border, next to South Dakota. My first radio gig was in Ortonville (1350 KDIO), back in 1992. Shortly after accepting that job, I started dating a girl from the Cities who would soon move out to Ortonville with me, and a year later become my first wife. (Yep, way too fast...)

We first lived in the Columbian Hotel, an historic building which was then owned by my boss at the radio station. We would later buy a nice old house, which I will write about in a day or two. The Columbian was a charming building, but obviously needed a lot of work. I've tried to keep somewhat abreast of Ortonville happenings since moving a year later in 1993 to Marshalltown, IA. All I know about the Columbian is that after some troubles keeping it going and keeping it from ruins, new ownership has a plan to refurbish it and open it for business again some day.

Photos of the building are below. I'm not sure whether the plan is to keep it as a hotel, but I am pleased to know it will not be deserted forever, or worse, demolished any time soon.

The Columbian from the front. A real beauty!

Renovations to the main area, as seen through the front window.

(I hope the owners don't mind I did that!) For the first few weeks

on the job, I lived in the room behind the door you see in the center.

After that, my boss created a two bedroom apartment in the back

of the hotel.

The rear of the Columbian. It had a walk-out basement, so the platform

where you see the boards standing is actually level with the first floor.

The door to the left of the boards enters the apartment in which I lived

before getting a house.