Cornelius Connor built the White Swan Hotel to accommodate the  thousands of Mauch Chunk’s visitors to the town during its era as a  booming coal transportation hub. The White Swan was one of several  large, rambling, grand hotels in the town.

Connor rebuilt the hotel after it burned to the ground during the  great fire, which consumed many of the town’s buildings in 1849. The new  structure was renamed the New American Hotel.

The New American Hotel was the architectural gem and social center of  the town during the 19th century and into the 20th century. Many  dignitaries including General Ulysses S. Grant, President William H.  Taft, Buffalo Bill, Thomas Edison and John D. Rockefeller chose to spend  the night under its roof.

Meanwhile, during the later half of the 19th-century, Mauch Chunk  basked in its fame as a major tourist attraction, whose visitors  descended upon the town for a ride on its famous Switchback Gravity  Railroad or a visit to Glen Onoko Falls. At that time, more people  visited Mauch Chunk than any other tourist attraction in America, except  for Niagara Falls. New York City’s Penn Station even had a train  platform dedicated to service to Mauch Chunk.

The Inn fell into disrepair during the Depression, as Mauch Chunk,  along with many of the region’s coal towns, suffered from the economic  downturn.

The hotel’s owner, John Drury, whose past restoration projects  include the Chestnut Hill Hotel near Philadelphia and Glenside’s Keswick  Theater, bought the Inn in 1988 and restored it to its original  splendor.

His son David is the Inn’s General Manager and a partner in the company, which also includes his brother Dale.

The Inn’s restoration served as one of the major catalysts in Jim  Thorpe’s exciting revitalization during the 1980’s. The Broadway Grille  dining room and pub were restored and re-opened two decades later.

The building stands proudly today as the landmark gem of Broadway.