SAGINAW, MI – The historic Schuch Hotel in Saginaw is for sale, and it could be yours for less than half a million dollars.
Throughout its approximately 150-year history, the Wood Age building has served as a hotel, restaurant, private museum featuring tens of thousands of artifacts, and a ‘second home’ for Pit members. & Balcony Theater nearby, another Saginaw landmark. As with many historic buildings, some people also think of the Schuch as haunted.
The name and ownership of the hotel have changed several times and it is back on the market. Signs posted outside the building indicate that it is for sale by the owner and that the asking price is $ 465,000.
Tom Trombley, vice-president / chief historian of the Castle Museum of Saginaw County History, said “it’s easy to be fascinated by (the Schuch Hotel’s) place in the Saginaw cultural scene in the 1930s , 40 and 50 ”.
“I like the way the Hotel Schuch has adapted to meet the needs of the community over time,” he said. “He has known many golden ages. I can’t even imagine what it was like in the 1870s and 80s during the great lumber boom.
The sale was also announced via the Perry’s Schuch Saloon & Hotel is 1868 Facebook Page. The message reads, in part, “Built in the 1860s at the height of the logging era, this historic hotel and restaurant is one of Michigan’s oldest operating establishments. The remarkable hand-carved antique bar, wood floors, large gas fireplace and various antiques add to its unique charm and warm character. The fully equipped kitchen includes a large pizza oven. The property includes a liquor license, ample parking, an outdoor patio, 5 refurbished hotel rooms (perfect for an Airbnb), a working sprinkler system and much more. The interior of the restaurant has been completely updated with a new look to match the stylish new paint on the exterior.
Calls requesting more information or a tour of the building were not returned in time for this story.
Trombley said the building, located at 301 N. Hamilton St. in Old Town Saginaw, has a rich history, but details of its origin are a bit hazy. John Schuch, son of the founder of the Schuch Hotel, Henry L. Schuch, wrote that it was completed in 1868 as Benson House, but Saginaw town directories and other sources indicate that it was completed around 1872 as Brockway House, according to Trombley. It became the Schuch Hotel in 1912 when Henry L. Schuch bought it. His son then “turned it into a revered monument to Saginaw and made it famous across Michigan,” Trombley said.
John Schuch, who served as Saginaw County Sheriff, State Representative and Senator, and founder and chairman of the Saginaw County Historical Society, lived in the hotel between 1912 and 1940, Trombley said. It was also his private museum, housing its impressive collections of antiques and objects of historical interest. According to The Saginaw News archives, the Schuch collection, which in the 1930s included more than 50,000 objects, was recognized by the Library of Congress and known nationwide.
John Schuch’s niece inherited the hotel after his death in 1953. She told The Saginaw News it took a full year to dust the collections. “When we were done dusting off the snuffboxes, canes, guns, carved elephants, jade sculptures, porcelain, Bibles, historical Saginaw memorabilia and more, it was time to start over,” according to the archives of The Saginaw News.
The collection was dispersed, and in the decades that followed the building had different owners and businesses.
In 2010, the Schuch Hotel was featured in “A Haunting on Hamilton Street”, a film made by a team of paranormal investigators who spent nearly 40 nights at this hotel and other historic Hamilton buildings and have documented their experience.
In 2013, when the hotel and restaurant celebrated its 145th anniversary, co-owner Michael Perry took the public on guided tours of the building’s four floors. At the time, he said Perry’s Schuch Hotel was the oldest hotel and restaurant in the country, according to The Saginaw News archives.
“While I have no idea what the role of Schuch’s next act will be, the building has incredible potential. Its future could contain a combination of things: a restaurant, retail space, offices, housing, ”said Trombley. “I hope its next chapter encompasses the hotel’s past as the building becomes part of the present and future of our community.
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