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THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JULY 23, 2022 • B1
Tracing the families behind the historic
HOTEL ELLIOTT
By JAIME LUMP
For The Astorian
C
onstruction of a new hotel at the corner
12th and Duane streets began in the spring
of 1924, starting on the heels of a post-fi re
downtown rebuild in Astoria. Plans for the
building, which was then under the owner-
ship of Charles Niemi, were drawn up with four
fl oors and 51 rooms, though two weeks later, an
additional fi fth fl oor would be added for a total of
68 rooms.
On that same day, the Elliott family signed a
lease to operate the hotel and its namesake became
offi cial.
Jeremiah and Margaret Elliott had married in
New Castle, Pennsylvania, in 1885. The couple’s
fi rst child, Flora, was born the next year, then their
son, John, came along six years later.
Meanwhile, Clarence Short was growing up just
100 miles south of New Castle in the tiny town of
Dawson, Pennsylvania. Some years later, Short mar-
ried Flora in Colorado and the two families eventu-
ally made their way to Oregon. For a while, Short
managed a J.C. Penney in La Grande as Flora raised
their son, Harold. Meanwhile, father and son Jere-
miah and John Elliott ran the Angela Hotel in Port-
land – but the opportunity to run Hotel Elliott soon
brought the families back together in Astoria.
For decades, the hotel primarily served working
class visitors. It kept its unique set of luxuries, how-
ever. Advertising itself as “a modern hotel in a mod-
ern city” with, of course, its slogan of “wonderful
beds,” the concrete building stationed its lobby on
the fi rst fl oor where it remains to this day, now with
automatic elevators to take guests up to their desired
fl oors.
See Hotel Elliott, Page B4
ABOVE: Jeremiah Elliott, left, stands in the Hotel Elliott lobby while Margaret, right, stands behind a counter. This
photo was taken during the 1920s. BELOW: A historic view of the block at 12th and Duane streets, where the Hotel
Elliott sits.