Our Story
The Early Years
John W. Weatherford (1859-1934) constructed one of the first buildings that conformed to rules calling for brick, stone, or iron to counter frequent fires that plagued frontier towns. The new building housed a general store on the first floor and living spaces for the Weatherford family on the second floor.
With growing tourism, Weatherford began construction of a third floor in 1899. On New Year’s Day, 1900, it officially reopened as the Weatherford Hotel.
For thirty years, The Weatherford was the most prominent hotel in Flagstaff, entertaining guests such as artist Thomas Moran, publisher William Randolph Hearst, and western author Zane Grey. Grey’s novel “The Call of the Canyon” was 
written in an upstairs room, now part of the Zane Grey Ballroom. In 1903, Weatherford constructed a beautiful sunroom on the top floor, which was used for dances and parties, while numerous civic groups engaged the rooms downstairs. At various times during this early period, the hotel housed a theatre, restaurant, billiard hall, and a local radio station.
When transcontinental telephone service first reached Flagstaff in 1909, Weatherford constructed a small brick building on the south of the hotel to serve the telephone company. That building served its original purpose until it became the La Brea Café in the 1930s and in the 1950s, it became an iconic Chinese American restaurant called The Weatherford Café.
By the late 1920s, the Weatherford was showing its age, and new hotels like the Monte Vista conformed more to modern tastes. In 1929, three-sided balcony was damaged by fire and removed, and in 1933, the Weatherford family lost the hotel. J.W. Weatherford died in Phoenix the following year.
FORWARD TO 1975
New Ownership
Henry Taylor purchased the hotel in 1975 along with his brother Lloyd, hoping to save the historic building from demolition. Since 1980, Henry and his wife Pamela (Sam) Green have completed a long string of renovations, with a goal of restoring it to its original grandeur. In 1978 and 1981, Charly’s Restaurant and Pub opened on the first floor on the site of the original lobby, and some hotel rooms. At the same time, the upper floors operated as a youth hostel.
In 1995, the Taylors restored the original appearance of the telephone exchange and renamed it The Exchange Pub. The casual ambience of the Exchange Pub and Charly’s dining room next door are reminiscent of Flagstaff’s heyday at the turn of the century. Original photographs and memorabilia enhance that reflection of the town’s history.
MORE RECENTLY
The Taylors
In the late 1990s, the Taylors obtained one of the largest commercial grants in Arizona history, intended for the restoration of the original balconies. On the third floor, the Zane Grey Ballroom opened in 1997, in preparation for the reconstruction of the balconies. The first stage of reconstruction the wrap-around porches was completed in December, 1998.
In the building’s basement, The Gopher Hole was opened in 2014, recreating an earlier club that occupied that space. This initiated the complex engineering feat of reinforcing the interior floors of the entire building. In June 2016, the remainder of the restoration of the structure of the building was completed with stacking steel posts and beams through the first and second floors, and the building became fully operational with the restoration of 17 hotel rooms. Many of these rooms retain the original claw-foot tubs, showers, and other fixtures. Downstairs in the lobby, the Taylors restored the ceiling to its original height of 19 feet, and added a new concierge desk to replace the 1930s-era mezzanine. Meanwhile, a new Victorian-style staircase returned the entrance of the hotel to its original grandeur.