The Parmly House Hotel, seen above in the 1920s, was opened on Dec. 30, 1861, by Dr. Eleazer Parmly in Painesville, Ohio. Eleazer, a dentist, was one of the most widely traveled members of the family, living and/or practicing in Montreal, Boston, London, New York City, Washington, Shewsbury, N.J., and the family homestead just outside of Painesville, at Perry, Ohio.

In 2008, I received a note from Kelly Searsmith whose grandmother worked as a clerk at the hotel. "One of my fondest memories is riding up and down in the very old-fashioned elevator," she said. And, she added, the Von Trapp family (the inspiration for "The Sound of Music") once stayed there.

The hotel was torn down in the early to mid-1970s, Kelly said, to make way for a downtown shop and office complex called the New Market Mall.