Beautiful unissued stock certificate from the Mexican Gulf Hotel Company printed in 1882. This historic document was printed by the American Banknote Company and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of a river with the Mexican Gulf Hotel Company flying an American flag in the background. This item is over 130 years old.
Certificate Vignette The Mexican Gulf Hotel Company of Pass Christian was organized in 1882 with an authorized capital of $35,000. Before the building was half finished it was found that the cost would be far in excess of the capital stock. The whole plant cost was about $105,000. Doors were opened to guests on June 16th, 1883, with M. J. Crawford as manager. The outstanding indebtedness began to cause trouble from the start. The company defaulted on the bond interest and they were foreclosed upon. The Stockholders led by Frank Howard leased the hotel to Crawford who struggled along until he spent all of his money and was finally closed out. A former administrative employee of the hotel, Bernard Chotard, then leased the hotel until it burned on January 8th, 1917. History from Wikipedia, http://landmarks.passchristian.net and OldCompany.com (old stock certificate research service)