While sitting in my office gazing at an old cartoon photo of Utica, I stumbled up the phrase The Butterfield House. What in the world was this site? Is it still in the city today?

The Butterfield House at it's time was the city of Utica's largest hotel. It was located on the corners of Genesee and Devereux streets in downtown Utica. The hotel was next door to the Grace church in Utica. It attracted hundreds of guests throughout the country. It was called "the most modern hotel between New York City and Chicago." According to the Oneida County Historical Society, the hotel was built by John Butterfield.

Throughout his life, John Butterfield was truly a giant, a founder of the American Express Company, the New York, Albany, and Buffalo Telegraph Co., (the basis of the Western Union Telegraph), a developer of lands around Utica, builder of the Butterfield House, Utica's largest Hotel, Bank Director and Mayor of Utica.

The hotel cost nearly $250,000 to build, and to furnish. Each part of the hotel had it's purposes too. The first floor had offices, a gentlemen's reception room and a reading room. The second floor had a massive dining room, a ladies drawing room, a library and billiards room. The third and fourth floors had single bedrooms and suites. The basement was the home of Chris Freymuller's six-chair barber shop, complete with a back room with three bathtubs. Also this area was a research area in the building as well.

Today on the current location of the building you will find the Macartovin Apartments. There is no evidence that points to the apartments using the same building as the Butterfield House.

Check out photos of the site where the hotel was in 1907 vs the site in 2016.


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