Short History of the Blue Mountain Hotel
The first hotel on the current site dates from about 1885, and was constructed on land owned by Sarah Wilson on lot 1. This land was purchased in the new town layout adjacent to her husband Henry's existing land holding to the west where the original Blue Mountain Inn had operated from about 1845 and where they had a stock yard.
The current building (which is claimed to contain some elements of the earlier hotel) was rebuilt between 1900 and 1910 most likely to compete with the new Grand Hotel on the opposite side of the Broad Street. A license for the new hotel was applied for in 1909.
The hotel changed owners a number of times and became tied to the large brewers Tooth and Tooheys who supplied their beer on a yearly licence arrangement.
In 1930, the building was described by Tooths as being a tourist hotel, two storeyed, lower part brick - upper wood - very good repair. Fairly big rambling building, appropriately newly painted and fully brightened up - no tiling. It had 12 bedrooms, a sitting room, a dining room and 2 parlors
Tooths declined to purchase the freehold of the hotel on several occasions but assisted with finance when the building was significantly extended with the present front wing in 1936.
The verandahs of the building were re-floored in 1938 and the tower section was re-roofed with metal by Wunderlich & Co., replacing the deteriorated redwood shingles in 1939. By 1949 the tower had been removed.
Other changes that saw the verandah infilled with glazing and the internal fitout removed and re-arranged, took place from that time and have generally been intrusive to the building's intrinsic heritage values. The building continues to operate as a hotel and bottle shop with some residential accommodation on the upper floor.
read more about the hotel's history at the web site of Mid Mountains Historical Society