1774: Used for a Boston Tea Party-like convention held by delegates from Berkshire County towns protesting the use of articles imported from England.
1807: Silas Pepoon purchases the establishment from Anna Bingham, now known as the Widow Bingham, for $10,000.
1812: Barnabas Adams of Lee purchases the inn "and other land" for $556 at a sheriff's auction. Other early owners include Daniel Pepoon, Jonathan Hicks, Eliada Kingsley, G.&P. Rockwell, Robert E. Galpin, F.&E. Goodwin, H.L. Plumb, and Robert E. Darbe (twice).
1825-26: Workers who stay at the inn consume 34 gallons of rum, cider brandy and wine over the winter while building the Housatonic National Bank next door. The Red Lion remains dry until 1934.
1842: The Housatonic Railroad reaches Stockbridge, and eight years later Pittsfield. The inn's focus changes from a stage coach spot to a place for vacationers.
1860: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow signs the guest register (July 26). Other well-known guests would include five presidents (Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, Calvin Coolidge and Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt), William Cullen Bryant, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Thornton Wilder, Allen
1862: Purchased by Charles Plumb and his wife Mert, the great-uncle and aunt of future state and U.S. Congressman, Allen T. Treadway, a Republican from Stockbridge. Allen Treadway begins running the inn in 1893, and the establishment remains in his family until 1955.
1884: The inn is enlarged to 100 rooms.
1896: On Aug. 31, the main building is destroyed by a fire that starts in the kitchen (townspeople help retrieve the colonial china and antique furniture collections). The building was rebuilt, re-opened in April 1897, and enlarged in 1899. The next major change occurred in 1961 when the southern section was made into a motor lodge.
1897: When the new building opens, Allen Treadway unveils a new crest in the form of a shield that includes a lion at the top. The inn is referred to as the Red Lion from now on. In the 18th century, the inn's insignia included a red lion with a green tail. It is believed that the lion was symbolic of the British crown, while the green tail indicated sympathy with the colonists during the Revolutionary War. During the 1920s, the shield is replaced with the traditional lion that remains to this day.
1934: The town of Stockbridge grants the Red Lion Inn a seasonal liquor license. Congressman Treadway applies for the license after voting to repeal prohibition.
1936: The Lion's Den is built.
1955: Hotel and country club executive Bryne Bauer, a 1930 graduate of Williams College, purchases the Red Lion from Heaton I. Treadway, Representative Treadway's son (the congressman is an 1886 graduate of Amherst College). Bauer opens the inn year-round for the first time since 1936, but deeds the inn back to Heaton Treadway in 1959 when he leaves to run a lodging establishment in Kentucky.
1960: Treadway deeds the inn to Robert K. Wheeler, the president of Wheeler & Taylor in Great Barrington. Wheeler purchased the inn to save it from extinction. He restores the Red Lion's sign after Bauer has it removed.
1968: John H. "Jack" Fitzpatrick and his wife Jane, of Stockbridge, purchase the Red Lion from Wheeler, partly to find a home for their business, Country Curtains. Wheeler stays on as a member of the inn's corporation.
1970: Gov. Francis W. Sargent receives some 150 telegrams and night letters from Berkshire County residents concerned about the unavailability of an all-alcohol (club) liquor license for the Red Lion Inn. The state Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission had rejected the Red Lion's application on the grounds that the inn was not essentially a club.
1974: The Fitzpatricks purchase several neighboring buildings, including the former village firehouse. The complex currently contains 15 structures.
1977: Some 650 people attend a benefit that raises $7,500 for the Berkshire Theatre Festival.
1989: Some 1,000 people, including former employees, town residents and officials, turn out to celebrate the Fitzpatricks' 20th anniversary of operation at the Red Lion. Later that year, the inn installs its own laundry.
2005: The Red Lion earns the American Hotel & Lodging Association's National Award for Community Service for dedicated, company-wide, community-building efforts.
2006: The Massachusetts Lodging Association awards the Red Lion Inn its Good Earthkeeping Award for its energy conservation and sustainability efforts. A major renovation of the main inn includes upgrades of the inn's plumbing and electrical infrastructure, insulated windows, a new water collection system, and energy-efficient, climate controlled guest rooms.
— Compiled by Tony Dobrowolski
Font Resize
