SAGINAW, MI — A new sports-themed bar and restaurant, Gordie’s Bar, within weeks will open inside the historic downtown structure referenced often as “The Bancroft Building” or simply “The Bancroft.”

The legacy of the building extends back even prior to the development of the current 109-year-old structure, which today also houses apartment units.

Here is a timeline of “The Bancroft” and the structure that preceded it:

Sept. 7, 1859: Lumber baron Jesse Hoyt financed the building of the Bancroft Hotel, and named it for his friend, George Bancroft, a historian. The main entrance was on East Genesee, and a women’s entrance was on South Washington.

1915: The original Bancroft Hotel was demolished.

1916: A 200-room building of Ionic-style architecture was built in the original Bancrof

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