The building of the Colonial Hotel excited great public interest during its construction in the 1890’s.
It dominated Centre Square, later Continental Square, and was featured on hundreds of postcards in the early 20th century.
This view of the Colonial Hotel at night was made sometime around 1905; it was published by the Illustrated Postal Card Co. of New York.
Printed in Leipzig, Germany, the postcard was mailed from York by Ruth Longenecker on April 29, 1906.
The postcard was addressed to Miss Alta Nissley of Mount Joy (Lancaster County) and bears the receiving postmark of Mount Joy.
I have not found a detailed history of this imposing structure; there does not seem to be a Wiki entry for it.
I did learn that a fire in the 1940’s destroyed the turrets and ornamental features of the top floors; the imposing building survives in York.
On-line, one can find a very good discussion of the Colonial Hotel in a blog post by a York County historian.
