You don’t look a day over 99. The Westin-Poinsett Hotel celebrates its 100th birthday on Sunday, June 22. President of the Greenville Historical SocietyJohn Nolan will give a presentation + Mayor Knox White will speak. The event is free to attend, but registration is required.
Before you don your birthday hat, let’s take a look at the Westin-Poinsett’s history.
- 1925 | The Poinsett Hotel was constructed a few feet away from the former Mansion House Hotel downtown, which was demolished the year before. The ~$1.5 million hotel was named after Joel R. Poinsett, an SC politician who was the Secretary of War under President Martin Van Buren.
- 1930 | The hotel makes a profit after J. Mason Alexander took over. Fun fact: He was known for his “four C’s” hospitality policy: cleanliness, cooking, competence, and courtesy. He even made the bellhops memorize each guest’s name. It’s giving Carl Sobocinski.
- 1975 | The hotel closed its doors in 1975.
- 1977| The building was acquired by a developer who turned it into a retirement home. In 1987, it once again closed its doors due to a foreclosure and a failure to pass fire code inspections.
- 1997 | Steve Dopp and Greg Lenox purchased + renovated the vacant building. Dopp reached out to Mayor Knox White, who said it was a “miracle” that he could potentially buy the hotel.
- 2000 | The Westin-Poinsett that we know and love today reopened and joined the Historic Hotels of America in 2002 + it received the “best city center historic hotel” distinction in 2021.
The rest, as they say, is history.
