A Landmark, Restored.
Read about the hotel and the people who keep its doors open.
Hand-built in 1935. On the National Register since 1991.
The Hyland Hotel, also briefly known as the Hotel Palmer and Everglenn Hotel, is a historic hotel building located at 333 W Evergreen Avenue in the heart of Palmer, Alaska.
The Hyland Hotel is recognized as a building of historical significance by the city of Palmer and was officially listed by the United States Department of the Interior on the National Register of Historic Places on June 21, 1991.
This property was built as a direct result of The New Deal Colony Settlement of the Matanuska-Susitna Valley in Alaska, where settlers were brought to the Matanuska-Susitna valley to colonize Alaska from 1935 – 1940.
It is a 2-1⁄2 story wood-frame structure with a front-gable roof and a glass-enclosed porch that has been converted to hotel rooms which extend across the front of the building. The original building was constructed in 1935 and measures 30 x 30 feet. A 10 x 14 foot addition was built on the rear of the building in 1953 to add additional living and storage space.
The Hyland Hotel was among the earliest commercial properties built in the new town of Palmer in 1935. Its establishment was an indication that private capital saw Palmer as an attractive business location and contributed to a feeling of permanence in the new town.
Shortly after the arrival of the Matanuska Colony settlers, Myles and Joanna Hyland moved to Palmer from Girdwood Alaska where Myles had been working for the Alaska Railroad. The Hyland’s bought a lot of land from John Bugge, a pre-colony homesteader, in what is now downtown Palmer, and began building the hotel.
In September of 1935, the Hyland’s began digging the basement for the hotel by hand. To help financially, Joanna cooked and served meals in a tent on the property while the hotel was being built. Lumber for the hotel came from a dormitory that had stood at the nearby Eska coal mine. The Lutheran congregation purchased the dormitory and dismantled and moved it to Palmer to be used to build their church. The congregation sold the surplus lumber and windows which Myles and Joanna would use to build the hotel.
The Hyland’s furnished the hotel with $100 worth of furniture they purchased in Anchorage and opened for business in 1936. When the hotel opened, single rooms rented for $3 a day and double rooms for $4 a day. Valley coal miners often rented rooms in the hotel during the winter months and the Hyland’s were able to establish a successful hotel business.
The Hyland’s operated the hotel together until Myles’ death in 1949, then Joanna took over on her own. Joanna later married a local miner named James Smith, and they operated the hotel until 1966. Except for a brief period in the late 1950s, the hotel has been in continuous operation since 1936.
Sleep Somewhere With a Story
Eight rooms, eight pioneer names, one historic building.
Your Room Is Waiting.