Chalyebeate Springs Hotel

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This structure was built in the summer of 1881 to house the Chalybeate House. Its location close to the Strasburg Depot which was then located on Fort Street gave it easy access to visitors arriving in town via the railroad.

A March 15 1882 advertisement in the Shenandoah Herald listed the house, or hotel, as being “new and conveniently furnished.” The notice lists A.P. McInturff as the proprietor and notes individuals could get “transient and permanent” accommodations. A chalybeate spring, containing minerals thought to improve an individual’s health, was reported to be near the house.

Chalybeate’s reputation as an excellent lodging house would continue over the next several decades with the hotel receiving acclaim in national publications.

In 1911 A.P. McInturff retired and sold the site to his son-in-law Lewis Machir. Lewis changed the name to Hotel Machir sometime after 1912. He also added additional rooms, electric lights, and running water. A 1917 broadside listed the hotel under that name using the tag line “The House of Tranquility.” That advertisement also notes it was Strasburg’s only hotel, had the “best drinking water in the world,", and each room had hot water heat.

Lewis would only operate the hotel until his death in 1918 during the Influenza epidemic. His widow, Mary Machir, then took control of the hotel. In 1923 she placed an advertisement in John Wayland’s Scenic and Historical Guide of the Shenandoah Valley. This noted the hotel had “reasonable rates,” rooms with and without baths, hot and cold running water, hot water heat, and electric light. There is no mention of the Chalyebeate Springs.

Mary Machir died in 1937. On the 1940 Sanborn map of Strasburg the site is listed as the “Confederate Inn Hotel” though no additional information is known about that institution.

Some time after this the house was converted into an apartment complex. It operated as such during the latter half of the 20th century and as such today.