first 3-story brick building in Walla Walla and with 50 rooms it was the largest hotel in Washington Territory. It was designed in a simple Italianate style, with corbel window arches (which are still extant on the building's east facade), a ground floor arcade and a wooden cornice; a wooden balcony wrapped around the front of the building above the first floor. Although Stine built it and named it after himself, he never operated the hotel, opting to continue his blacksmith business at 4th and Rose Streets until retiring in 1880. He died in June 1909. The Stine became the town's social gathering place and the stopping point for all the major stage lines from Lewiston and LaGrande. It even offered free carriage service between the hotel and the train depot, and reasonably priced service to anywhere else in town. The hotel was so well appointed that several local families chose to live in the hotel while renting out their own homes. The Stine became the meeting place for many dignitaries, most notably president Rutherford B. Hayes and his entourage including his wife Lucy Webb Hayes and commanding general William Tecumseh Sherman, who dined in the hotel's restaurant during his visit to Walla Walla in October 1880.Business was good enough that the hotel was doubled in size in 1882, extending it south to the alley and bringing the room total to 100. The Stine remained the town's preeminent hotel until the night of July 23, 1892, when it was gutted by a fire that had spread from an adjacent French restaurant. All the hotel's guests and staff were able to escape but the property loss on the Stine House alone was estimated at $30,000, only one third of which was ensured. Any attempts at rebuilding were stalled by the Panic of 1893, and it stood as an empty ruin for the rest of the decade. Hotel Dacres In 1899 a group of investors headed by Walla Walla pioneer George Dacres and his son James E. Dacres purchased the burnt out shell of the Stine House and began to rebuild it. The hotel was once again doubled in size and the entire Main Street frontage was rebuilt with a pre-fabricated cast iron facade manufactured by Mesker Brothers in St. Louis, Missouri and shipped to Walla Walla by rail. It was and is the largest Mesker facade in Washington State. The second