The Cook House.Built in 1871, the Cook House was renamed the Allenel Hotel in 1911. It was torn down in 1964 to make way for the Sheraton, later the Ann Arbor Inn, currently Courthouse Square Apartments.

Prior to being the Cook House, the space was known as Cook's Temperance House, which opened in 1836. Solon Cook and his wife Anna were both known as teetotalers. Anna was involved in the Ladies Total Abstinence Benevolent Society. Solon was a harness maker who traded his goods for feed for his horses. These horses then pulled the omnibus that brought folks to his hotel from the train station. Mr. and Mrs. Cook operated the establishment until after the Civil War.

In 1871, the structure was demolished and a four story building built in its place. Even though the Cooks had retired by then, the hotel was still seen as the "place to be" for visitors. When William Jennings Bryant visited our town, he stayed there and gave a speech from standing on the marquee above the entrance.

On December 25, 1910, the hotel was severely damaged by fire. No one was hurt but the hotel was renamed upon its reopening. It was then called the Allenel.

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