Hawthorne Hotel

The Hawthorne Hotel opened for business with a three day celebration starting on July 21, 1925. Named for Salem's famous author Nathaniel Hawthorne, the hotel was funded by a joint venture between Salem Chamber of Commerce and the Salem Rotary Club. Volunteers in the business community were trained by the Hockenbury System of Harrisburg, Penn., a group that enabled 123 communities nationwide to build and finance their own hotels. In one week, 16 teams of men, divided into four teams, competed for highest sales honors and sold more than half a million dollars in stock to local residents for a proposed "modern hotel for Salem." More than a thousand residents and businessmen invested in the proposed hotel, financing its construction. After World War II, a group of local businessmen bought many of the stock-holding residents our and acquired controlling interest.