The Waikato Hotel

Built in 1878, the Waikato Hotel was located on the southeast corner of Grey Street and Clyde Street HCL_04429 

This is the Waikato Hotel, the lease of which Frederic Edward Gaudin purchased from Philip Le Quesne in about April 1881. He soon learnt that hotel proprietors are fair game for those who help themselves and life was not without familiar difficulties. There was a garden behind the hotel with a few fruit trees from which a ‘swamper’ would steal apples from about 5:00am one morning. Gaudin saw to it that the thief was prosecuted. He was sentenced to one month in prison. On another occasion a man broke into the Waikato Hotel at 5:00am and stole liquor.

Mr Gaudin was twice a borough councillor; being one of the first council members elected and 1881-1884. Before that, he had been a member and sometime chairman of the Hamilton East Roads Board.

Contributed by Perry Rice, Heritage Librarian – Photographs, Hamilton Central Library. If you have any information you would like to pass on or would like to buy an electronic copy of the photo, please e-mail heritage@hcc.govt.nz quoting: HCL_04429

https://heritage.hamiltonlibraries.co.nz/objects/785/waikato-hotel