Holt Hotel

320 E. Michigan Avenue

Situated along the south side of the 300 block of E. Michigan Avenue, stuck between the Columbia Hotel, the New Arlington Hotel and the Henderson-Ames Building is the three-story Holt Hotel. When it opened in 1911 by proprietors Charles Holt at a cost of $80,000, the building also served as the base of operations for the Columbia Candy Company. The first two decades of the 20th century was a transformative period that saw many construction projects taking place in the city’s business district. In addition to The Holt, the Kalamazoo National Bank Building, the new Burdick Hotel and the Hanselman Building all rose along the city’s commercial artery within a few years of each other, marking Kalamazoo’s transition from big village architecture to that of a successful, industrialized city. Proximity to the railroad depots were essential for success, so it comes as no surprise that the Holt Hotel joined the Columbia, Arlington and American House hotels along the 300 block of E. Main/Michigan, near to the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad depot a block away.

The Holt family were cigar manufacturers prior to opening the hotel, and continued to use the hotel’s basement as a site for cigar production. In 1914, the newspaper reported that a fire had broken out in the basement, but that it was quickly extinguished. In 1916, Charles Holt, Sr. was fined for not having properly separated his pool hall from the hotel lobby, a civil infraction that Holt believed unreasonable and punitive.

In 1921, the building became the home for the Ritz Hotel, Burroughs Adding Machines and the Holland Furnace Company. Nellie Raglan ran the operations at the new hotel. Raglan’s marketing tagline for the hotel was “The Best Kept Little Hotel in Michigan.” The interior was overhauled with new furnishings and redecorated in December of 1927, when Raglan (Mrs. Schaff) returned to Kalamazoo to run the business after several years away. Over the years, many individuals were responsible for running the hotel, including George Alvin Stimpson, who died in 1945. After forty years in the hostelry business, the Ritz Hotel closed its doors in 1960. Other occupants over the years have included the Hi-Hat Restaurant and the Lindauer Business Machines Company. In the late 1980s, the bicycle shop Alfred E. Bike moved into the lower portion of the building, and remained there until they closed in 2017.

Article written by Ryan Gage, Kalamazoo Public Library staff, March 2025