BY KRIS LEONHARDT
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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GREEN BAY – The hotel was quickly becoming the social nucleus of the city and more space was needed to accommodate the growing demand.
On Dec. 2, Northland Manager John Hoffman announced plans for a 150-room addition, which would change the building structure from an “L” to a “U” formation.
The rooms were to be small, but each equipped with running water and privacy.
In July, a Press-Gazette article said that while the addition was greatly needed, plans were being pushed out.
The following month, Hoffman, who had lead the hotel since its inception, resigned.
He was replaced with L.G. Fitzgerald, who previously worked for a hotel in Des Moines, Iowa.
The hotel enjoyed the ensuing decades as the epicenter of the social scene in Green Bay, as the Northland ballrooms played host to many events — both glamorous and business-centered.
The hotel hosted many celebrities in those days, including John F. and Jacqueline Kennedy and Eleanor Roosevelt.
It was also a fixture in the professional football community, hosting the National Football League annual conference in 1927.
Packers Head Coach Curly Lambeau lived at the hotel at one time, along with a number of Green Bay Packers players.
Packers Head Coach Vince Lombardi held his introductory press conference at the Northland on Feb. 3, 1959.
As he was officially introduced to the press, Lombardi said that he was “not against anything that will help the Packers. I’ve never been associated with a loser and I don’t expect to be now.
“The Packers are steeped in tradition. I expect, with plenty of hard work, to bring them back to the position they were once at,” he added.
The hotel also served as the NFL headquarters when Green Bay hosted championship games in 1961, 1965 and 1967.
Nearly every visiting team that came to play the Packers stayed there up until the 1970s. But the next few decades would usher in the decline of the magnificent hotel.
Next week: Another chance at grandeur