Doherty Hotel

Clare Mayor (and former three-term state senator) Alfred J. Doherty spearheaded the building of the Hotel Doherty in downtown Clare to replace the Hotel Calkins, which had burned in 1920. Construction of a modern brick hotel was begun by the William J. Morris Company of Midland, but when Morris failed to complete the building under the terms of the contract, it was finished by the O.W. Jenkins Company. The hotel was designed by Saginaw architect Clarence L. Cowles.

The Hotel Doherty stands at the key intersection of business routes US-10 and US-127, and was an important overnight stopover for travelers heading to and from northern Michigan. Clare was long billed as the gateway to northern Michigan, and was also known as the "Crossroads of Michigan" because the Pere Marquette and Ann Arbor railroads intersected there.

The hotel received its first guests in April 1924 and was formally opened on May 12, 1924, with a banquet at which many state and local dignitaries were present to honor Doherty and his contribution to Clare's economy.

The Clare Sentinel of April 11, 1924 described the new hotel, in part, as follows:

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[The hotel is] a four story steel, brick and terra cotta structure which is modern in every way and fireproof. An Otis elevator, display rooms for traveling salesmen, complete laundry, billiard room cafeteria,, which opened April first, dining room, ballroom, radio, mezzanine floor, room for two mercantile establishments and spacious quarters for the public library that have been donated by Mr. Doherty are among the features housed under one roof. The equipment throughout the structure is of the very latest and best. The lighting fixtures are exceptionally fine. There are 60 guest rooms, each containing hot and cold running water, and several suites.

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The Clare Public Library was housed on the first floor of the Doherty from 1924 until 1950. The former library space became the hotel's main dining room in 1951. An iconic neon sign was installed on the top of the building in 1948 and has been a feature of numerous postcards. The sign, five feet high and 25 feet long, was designed and installed by Ulch & Sons of Harrison, Michigan.

In 1938, the hotel was famously the location of a fatal shooting. Isaiah Leboove, a local oil company executive, was shot and killed in the tap room of the Doherty by his former partner, Carl Jack Livingston, who was arrested at the scene. Newspaper accounts revealed that the two men had quarreled frequently. Livingston was acquitted at trial on grounds of temporary insanity and was released from custody in 1939.

In 2016, the Doherty Hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Clare Downtown Historic District. As of 2020, the hotel was being operated by the fourth generation of the Doherty family.

"New Hotel for Clare Now Seems a Sure Thing: Mayor Doherty Will Erect Fine Hotel if Site is Secured," Clare Sentinel, January 20, 1921, p.1.

"Contract Let for Clare's Needed Modern Hostelry," Clare Courier, December 30, 1921, p.1.

"An Epochal Event in Clare's History is Fittingly Celebrated," Clare Sentinel, January 13, 1922, p.1.

"New Hotel Doherty Now Open to Public," Clare Sentinel, April 11, 1924, p.1.

"New Hotel Doherty Formally Opened Monday Evening," Clare Sentinel, May 16, 1924, p.1.

"Worthy Citizen of Clare Dies Following Life of Usefulness," Clare Sentinel, September 27, 1929, p.1.

"Jack Livingston, Oil Promoter, Held in Clare County Jail to Answer Charges of Murder," Clare Sentinel, May 20, 1938, p.1.

"Huge Neon Sign Being Erected on Hotel Doherty," Clare Sentinel, April 2, 1948, p.1.

Clare Downtown Historic District, National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, National Park Service, 2016.