Suhwaro Hotel
This smaller hotel was built across the street from the San Marcos Hotel by Harry J. Collis, the golf pro for the San Marcos Hotel, and William H. Robinson, an author. His wife Grace Robinson was the first manager of the San Marcos Hotel. The Suhwaro Hotel served many purposes including school house, hotel, and housing for the workers at the San Marcos.
It is not clear why it had the phonetic spelling of saguaro. The Suhwaro Hotel was originally built with the thought that Chandler needed a hotel for those who could not afford the opulence of the San Marcos. The original owners were Will H. Robinson, author and advertising agent for the San Marcos, and Harry Collis, the San Marcos golf pro. The 1923 Chandler City Directory used the spelling Hotel Suhuaro.
The Suhwaro was constructed in the summer of 1916 by Chandler contractor W.P. Pleasant. It was two stories tall, constructed of brick and designed in the Mission Revival style, its front deliberately reminiscent of the famous Alamo in Texas. The Suhwaro opened for business October 24, 1916. Its life as a hotel was short-lived, though, as eight short years later in 1924, the building was leased by the San Marcos for staff housing, and it remained in the hands of the San Marcos until the resort closed in 1979. The building saw other functions as well in the early years. The dining room was a popular eatery run by a Mrs. Pinkham in 1924. That same year, the Suhwaro became home to the Chandler Public Library, run by the local Woman’s Club. Its shelves offered over 400 books that residents could check out. Chandler resident Jack Henry (b. 1914) recalled that when he started school in 1921, his class met in the bottom rooms of the Suhwaro Hotel for two years, while completion of the Cleveland School was awaited.
To read newspaper articles about the Suhwaro Hotel, click HERE.
The 1921, 1923 and 1925 Chandler City Directories said Mrs. L. L. Craft was the proprietor (owner?) of the hotel, located at the corner of Buffalo and Arizona Ave.