The Wopsononock Hotel, opened in July of 1889, enjoyed only a brief existence. On April 30, 1903, it was destroyed in a forest fire after only fourteen years. The property was underinsured, and the hotel was never rebuilt.

In reviewing Altoona newspapers from 1903 onward, references to activity on the mountain top became scarce. While coal continued to be hauled from the Cambria County Daugherty mines to Altoona by way of the Wopsy Railroad, the former pleasures of a formal dinner at the hotel, an overnight stay, or a leisurely walk along Lookout Avenue to admire the sweeping views appear to have drastically been cut back.

Nearly a decade later, in 1912, the entire hotel site and Lookout Avenue were purchased by a New York City investor, Sigmund Morris. He announced an ambitious program of improvements, including plans for a new hotel—this time to be located at the edge of the lookout grounds where the observation tower had once stood. Morris also released a detailed layout showing dozens of proposed cottage and bungalow lots and proclaimed his intention to construct a large dancing pavilion near the Wopsy Railroad station.