When I began researching the Wopsononock Resort & Railroad in the late 1970s, I had assumed the hotel and train line were built at the same time, opening in June of 1891.

That assumption stood for many years—until the advent of digitized newspaper archives. With access to both Newspapers.com and NewspaperArchive, I experienced an eye-opening moment while reading the Altoona Tribune dated April 4, 1889.

Later, I found an article in the Altoona Tribune from January 10, 1889 describing the construction of the new hotel.

From the articles, I learned:

• The hotel opened two years before the rail line was completed in 1891, opening in July of 1889.
• And there was an older hotel that remained in front of the construction new one, to be torn down after the new one opened.

This is the only known photo of the original hotel. The photo shows attribution from “Prof. Jos. Abel, View Artist, Altoona, PA” with a handwritten caption, “Old Wopsononock House (Taken Summer of 1887).” The photo shows a sign on the hotel reading “Wopsenonock Hotel” – showing an alternate spelling.