GN441 Locomotive converted to a luxury lodge
Izaak Walton Inn | |
The Inn and tracks
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| Location | 290 Izaak Walton Inn Road Essex, Montana |
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| Coordinates | 48°16′43″N 113°36′42″W / 48.27861°N 113.61167°W / 48.27861; -113.61167 |
| Built | 1939 |
| Architect | Miller, Addison, Co. |
| Architectural style | Tudor Revival |
| Website | izaakwaltoninn |
| NRHP reference No. | 85003235[1] |
| Added to NRHP | October 18, 1985 |
The Izaak Walton Inn is a historic inninEssex, Montana, United States. It was originally built as the Izaak Walton Hotel in 1939 by the Great Northern Railway as a soup kitchen and lodgings for railway workers.[2] The hotel was also originally envisioned as a potential official southern gateway to Glacier National Park, hence its size, but World War II intervened and that plan never materialized.[3][4] Today, the inn is served by Essex station, the only request stoponAmtrak's Empire Builder route. A van from the inn meets both the morning eastbound and the evening westbound Empire Builders to convey passengers between the station and the inn.
The Tudor Revival inn is named after Sir Izaak Walton, the English writer and fisherman. Its location, Essex, was originally named Walton.[5] The structure was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.[6] Before its construction, rail crews had to find lodgings best they could among the then about 400 inhabitants of Essex, with many having to shelter in abandoned railcars or tents even during the winter.[7] Before the Inn was built, there was only a "beanery", a restaurant with no lodging facilities (built 1910 and 1920s; both structures destroyed by fire).[7]
The inn has 33 rooms for rent within the inn itself, with some other space available in refurbished cabooses, EMD F45 Diesel Locomotive 441, etc. It has been privately owned since the 1950s.[8] The Izaak Walton Inn is open year-round, except for several weeks during the off season.
In December 2022, the inn was purchased for US$13.5 million by Washington-based hospitality company LOGE Camps (pronounced "lodge"), who plan to update the rooms and upgrade the cafe during summer and fall 2023.[2022 sale 1][2022 sale 2][2022 sale 3] The Inn closed on April 1, 2023 expecting to reopen by Memorial Day, and later spring 2024. As of May 2024 it remains closed with no confirmed reopening date.
Izaak Walton Inn
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