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You might say that the Grand Canyon first became a tourist destination during the turn of the twentieth century. This was when the Topeka & Sante Fe Railroad completed building a line of railroad track that connected Williams, Arizona to the Grand Canyons edge. Prior to the construction of this transportation advancement, the only possibility for visiting the park was by way of stagecoach or wagon which could take weeks of traveling across the vast desert countryside. As a result, the Grand Canyon had gathered limited visitors preceding 1901. The railroad had changed everything, and now with the new ease of travel, the Grand Canyon had become a major tourist attraction! Tourism boomed.

A few years later the railroad brought president Teodore Roosevelt to the canyons edge. Mr Roosevelt was so greatly inspired by the majesty and beauty of the vast canyon that he swiftly began working to ensure that the area be protected exactly as it was. As tourism began to boom, the Sante Fe railroad quickly realized that there was a great need for quality lodging. The Sante Fe railroad joined forces with the Fred Harvey Company, who owned and operated a chain of hotels linked to the railroad.  Construction began on the El Tovar Hotel and the Grand Canyon further established itself as one of Americas premier tourist destinations.

The El Tovar’s Planning & Construction

Charles Whittlesey, who was among Sante Fe’s more dominant design engineers in the early 1900′s, was appointed to design and oversee manufacturing of the El Tovar.  The El Tovar was given it’s name in recognition of Pedro de Tovar, an early explorer within the region who had been the first to report word of a large waterway in the area which in time resulted in the finding of the canyon. This continued the tradition of employing Spanish terms for Harvey Hotels.

The El Tovar started receiving guests in 1905 with outstanding feedback, and a price tag of $250,000 to build. This was an exceptional sum of money in those days. At first the El Tovar was designed to be a significantly smaller hotel, however the Sante Fe Company quickly found that the interest in tourist accommodations near the canyon was growing even more quickly than they had originally suspected, and so Whittlesey was asked to more than double the accommodations to one-hundred rooms. With the completion of the elegant El Tovar Hotel, the Grand Canyon had formally taken it’s place as an upscale tourist destination, and the railway managed to start luring some far more wealthy guests. Sadly, several of the early pioneer proprietors of the area were driven out of business because they could not compete with the power and bank account of the railway company. In those days, El Tovar was largely regarded as the most luxurious hotel west of the Mississippi River.

El Tovar’s Unique Luxury & Design

The El Tovar boasts a sensational location close to the edge of the Grand Canyon’s rim which serves up some superior views for El Tovar guests. The El Tovar gets it’s unique theme from numerous influences including Switzerland architecture, Scandinavian designs, and early American rustic influences. The majority of the buildings which have been constructed near the Grand Canyon’s rim were planned out and built to blend in as seemlessly as possible with their natural landscape, it was quite a different story with the El Tovar however. It was designed to be a welcoming destination of elegance, comfort and luxury for fatigued travelers of the Sante Fe Railway. When the El Tovar Hotel was built in the early 1900′s it utilized many unique architectural designs that really set it apart from other hotels of it’s time. Things like wrap-around porches and vaulted ceilings added to the elegance and luxury of the hotel. El Tovar was developed sparing none of the era’s most modern comforts. There was electric lighting powered by a coal-fired generator. Indoor plumbing carrying hot and cold running water, as well as steam heat which was woven through the walls. None of the rooms had a private bath in the early days.

Exquisite Dining

El Tovar very quickly became recognized for it’s exquisite dining and succulent cuisine, as a result, it was a  struggle to keep the remote hotel supplied with fresh produce to satisfy the guests requirements. There were not refrigerated train cars back then, so hauling perishables through the hot desert countryside was not possible. Instead, the El Tovar Hotel established it’s own farm with a herd of Jersey Cows and poultry, which kept hotel guests furnished with a reliable supply of fresh milk, cream, eggs and butter. El Tovar also had it’s own bakery and butcher shop that provided fresh cuts of meat and fresh homemade bread and pastries.

The El Tovar Hotel predates the establishment of the Grand Canyon as a National Park, and in fact, it was the railroad and the El Tovar Hotel which played a vital role in helping the area become a national park. The area officially became a national park in the year 1916. The El Tovar Hotel has played host to presidents and tourists alike and is the oldest remaining hotel located at the Grand Canyon. To this day it is still a luxurious travel destination.

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