La Posada Hotel Historic District

Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992, the La Posada Historic District consists of the La Posada Hotel, the Winslow railroad station, and smaller buildings and a variety of site features including landscape elements, gardens, and a five-foot exposed adobe wall. A successful hospitality business called the Fred Harvey Company developed the site to provide lodging to tourists and others traveling on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF). The hotel and station were the work of noted architect Mary Colter, who designed many buildings for the Fred Harvey Company. She often incorporated Spanish Colonial architecture and Native American elements into her designs, and she considered La Posada Hotel and station to be her finest work. The hotel operates today and includes the Affeldt Mion Museum, which is located in the station and showcases the work of native American artists. The station is also an Amtrak stop.

Railroads were steadily built westward across the country during the 1800s as the nation expanded. The first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, linking Council Bluffs, Iowa to San Francisco Bay. The AT&SF started to build a line from Topeka, Kansas to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1868. By 1880, when it reached Albuquerque, the company realized that it would not generate enough revenue and decided to make it a transcontinental route to Los Angeles, California. The line reached Winslow in December 1881. As a result, Winslow became an important division point for the company, which built a roundhouse, maintenance facilities, and train yards.

The AT&SF, which was commonly referred to as the Santa Fe, did not offer sleeper or dining cars. As a result, passengers were forced to get food from whatever was near the train tracks. This began to change when the Santa Fe partnered with the Fred Harvey Company in January 1876. The company's founder, entrepreneur Fred Harvey, saw an opportunity to take advantage of the tourists and other travelers on the Santa Fe. He believed that providing good food and lodging would encourage others to travel to the Southwest on the Santa Fe. Harvey was right. The Harvey House restaurants and hotels that began to open up along the Santa Fe line were immediately successful. Not only was the food of high quality, the company offered a fine-dining experience with the use of linen, silverware, china, and crystal.

The company built hotels in hub cities where tourists could visit natural and historical sites. It chose to build a hotel Winslow to encourage tourists to visit Petrified Forest National Park, Hopi Indian archaeological sites, the Painted Desert, and other attractions. The La Posada Hotel replaced a smaller Harvey House that had been built many years prior. The new building featured 84 guest rooms, a restaurant, bakery, lunchroom, and a store for Indian art. The basement contained sample rooms for traveling salesmen. La Posada also became a community gathering place.

In the end, the hotel was likely not profitable. The Great Depression was underway and passenger traffic decreased as people started to use automobiles. The restaurant closed in 1956 and the hotel in 1959. In the 1960s, the Santa Fe converted the hotel into offices. It was almost demolished on several occasions but the current owner, Allan Affeldt, bought it in 1994 and led the effort to restore the old building.

Graham, Robert G. "La Posada Hotel Historic District." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. March 31, 1992. https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/92000256.

"The History of La Posada: A Tale of Two Visions." La Posada. Accessed October 4, 2023. https://laposada.org/the-history-of-la-posada.