Alligators: The Invasion of the Jefferson Hotel

When Lewis Ginter opened the Jefferson Hotel in 1895, it immediately became popular with tourists traveling up and down the East coast. The hotel had all the modern luxuries such as billiard rooms, a library, a grill room, Turkish and Russian baths and a salon. With over 300 guest rooms, it became known as “The Belle of the 90’s”. 

Around this time, a successful marketing campaign lured thousands of tourists to visit Florida, initially by train from New England and the Mid-Atlantic and later by car as automobiles became mainstream and highways were constructed.  Tourism advertisements often highlighted the state’s tropical flora and fauna, and images of alligators graced postcards, billboards and tourist souvenirs. The sale of live baby alligators, often purchased as a tourist souvenir, was common before 1967 (when they were protected as an endangered species). It is estimated that over 8,000 baby alligators were taken from Florida as pets. 

When these tourists eventually realized that alligators grow into gigantic pets, their owners would find a way to dispose of them, often donating them to zoos or abandoning them in ponds or rivers.  

The Jefferson Hotel served as a pit stop for travelers heading North on their way home from Florida, and it was not unusual for owners of a baby alligator to leave them behind when they checked out. Baby alligators would reside in the hotel’s Palm Court fountain. Sometimes these alligators would climb out of the fountain and head into the lobby to lounge and sleep.  Over time, hotel guests donated more alligators to add to the growing reptile family.

Alligators continued to roam the hotel for years after they first arrived, up until Old Pompey, the last alligator died in 1948. To remember Old Pompey, a bronze statue of the alligator was put outside the valet stand, along with other alligator references around the hotel.

In 1964, the Lambda Chi fraternity at the University of Richmond donated a trio of alligators to the hotel to bring back the alligator collection. According to an article in the Richmond News Leader, hotel officials and managers were delighted to receive these alligators, along with a later donation of two more alligators. There is no word on when these newest alligators checked out of Jefferson.

In the mid-1980s, the Jefferson Hotel completed a $30 million dollar renovation. New York sculptor, Paul Jeffries, was commissioned to make three bronze alligators as part of the refresh. After completion, the sculptures were installed in the fountain in front of Jefferson for the public to enjoy. The largest of the three alligators was then named Jefferson. 

Sources

• “Amphibian Docks Away from Hooks, Nets and Grappling Irons.” News Leader, July 27, 1907, https://virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=NEL19070727.1.3 
• Kneece, Jack, “Hotel here literally crawling with new interest,” News Leader, October 17th, 1964 
• Row, Steve, “Splendor to return with Jefferson opening,” Richmond Times-Dispatch, March 13, 1986 
• “Jefferson Hotel”, Internet Archive, September 25, 2010, https://web.archive.org/web/20100925045137/http://jeffersonhotel.com/exp_history.aspx 
• “Jefferson Hotel”, Historic Hotels, May 24, 2024 https://www.historichotels.org/us/hotels-resorts/the-jefferson-hotel/history-mystery.php 
• Friday, Sarah, “American Alligator”, NC Wildlife, May 24, 2024 https://www.ncwildlife.org/Portals/0/Learning/documents/Profiles/Reptile/Alligator_WildlifeProfile_Update.pdf