At the corner of West Wheelock and South Main Streets stands the Hanover Inn, the unofficial front door to Dartmouth College.
Sit on the white-washed verandah and hear the bells of Baker Library chime, look out a window and see the Green stretching out beyond or walk through the door and mingle with the nostalgic Dartmouth undergraduates of yesteryear.
It is the 24-hour information booth for the town of Hanover and the College, a beacon on Main Street without a single lock on its outside doors.
The Hanover Inn has acted as a crucial borderline geographically and demographically between life at the College and in the real world for 218 years.
In 1780, a tavern was opened at the corner by the College's steward, Ebeneazer Brewster, to cater to the social needs of students, with a few rented rooms upstairs. But by 1888, after a destructive fire burned down the entire block, the College officially overtook ownership of the land and established the Inn.
"The history perspective on the Inn is crucial. Being founded in 1780, it is the oldest continuous business in New Hampshire," said Matt Marshall, manager of the Hanover Inn for 15 years. "We go a long way back, to say the least."
A College enterprise
The relationship between the Inn and the College, despite this impressive history, is ambiguous to most Dartmouth students. The Inn is completely owned and operated by the College, and is a line item on the Dartmouth budget.
"The Inn is officially referred to as a subsidiary enterprise -- it is not a separate corporation," explained Marshall, who reports to Lyn Hutton, Vice President and Treasurer of the College. "The owners are the Trustees of the College, and the Inn has a board of overseers, just like the Tuck School of Business and the Thayer School of Engineering."
But Dartmouth Director of Financial Services Win Johnson said it is important to note that while the Inn is so closely affiliated to the College, "there is no drain whatsoever on the revenue students pay to finance anything related to the Inn."
"In fact, from a budget point of view, the Hanover Inn contributes a minimal surplus towards College revenues which, overall, helps defray tuition costs," he said.
The Inn manages its allotted budget on its own and essentially aims to break even, Marshall said.
Johnson explained that as an auxiliary enterprise, the Inn is not intended to generate profits.
"It's simply worthwhile for Dartmouth to invest in the Inn, being in such a rural community," he said. "We need to ensure the existence of a first-class, triple-A lodging to provide a standard of service for important visitors which might not otherwise be available."
With a guest list that has included Ronald Reagan, Billy Joel and Kirk Douglas, the necessity of top-rate accommodations here is indisputable.
While he acknowledged the charm and appeal of other accommodations, Johnson said the convenience of the Hanover Inn -- directly overlooking the Green -- is essential.
And, as the commercial arm of the College, the Hanover Inn is trademarked in New Hampshire.
Yet the relationship between the Inn and the College runs much deeper than budget lines and copyrights alone. Ninety percent of the Hanover Inn's business is in some way related to Dartmouth, according to Marshall.
"It's different for Dartmouth to be in a more secluded setting -- so different from a campus like Harvard's in Cambridge with hotel-filled Boston right next door," he said.
"Dartmouth needs a special place for alums, lecturers and honorary visitors to stay, which represents the same quality as the academic excellence it offers to its students,"
Marshall said.
The College has never considered selling the Inn because of this imperative commercial role it plays, but Marshall said he does receive occasional "unusual" inquiries about taking over ownership of the Inn.
One of Hanover's monopolies?
While it stands alone as the sole hotel in downtown Hanover, Marshall said the Inn is not a monopoly, since any business has the opportunity to establish itself downtown.
But Marshall conceded that "it takes quite an investment to build something like the Inn, since it is so labor and capital intensive."
The Inn's 90 rooms are maintained by a total of 200 employees, making the Inn one of the top three employers in the Upper Valley, according to Marshall.
"Dartmouth might think twice today about investing in the same way today simply because of the cost," he said. "This is by no means a high profit business, which deters many people from entering the hotel market."
The exorbitant cost and low availability of land in downtown Hanover also act as impediments to market entry.
According to the 1997 Tax Assessor's List, the Hanover Inn has a land value of over two and a half million dollars, giving it a total estimated value of close to nine million dollars. This is a far cry from the five thousand dollars the College originally purchased the land for back in 1888.
Zoning permits pose a bar to entry in the Hanover hotel market. Any building construction or change of facility use requires a site plan review and approval by the Hanover Planning Board, Zoning Coordinator Susan Beliveau said.
Since each business is required to have a certain amount of parking spaces, the shortage of parking spots in downtown Hanover intensifies the problem.
The next 200 years
Yet the existence of more geographically distant competition, as well as people's evolving expectations, forces the Inn to recognize the necessity of updating its facilities in accordance with the times, Marshall said.
"Hotel competition is all based on this market segmentation which currently exists," Marshall said. "Some visiting Dartmouth parents prefer the Norwich Inn across the Connecticut River, or the Woodstock Inn which is equipped with an 18-hole golf course.
Different hotels have more ideal price brackets, locations or facilities, depending on the guests' preferences."
The Inn is currently preparing for its upcoming restaurant renovations, to be completed by Jackson Construction of Massachusetts.
The improvements will not increase room rates, nor will they amplify menu prices, he said. Commercial loans and money specifically reserved for this purpose from past years is funding the project.
The newly renovated restaurants are expected to open in early May of this year, which leaves a tight time frame of only seven weeks to complete the task.
"We're building an entirely new restaurant called Zin's, including a wine bar, and renovating the Ivy Grill," Marshall said. "No room renovations will be done, so the actual footprint of the Inn will not change at all."
The new restaurant will be able to facilitate larger groups of students, while still maintaining an intimate feel, he said.
The Inn is not simply a haven for reminiscent alumni, since current students play an active role in the hotel's successful functioning. Marshall estimates that 15 to 20 students work at the Inn in any given term.
Marshall said that because the Inn is a 218-year old business, it looks not just at the next quarter, but at least five or 10 years down the road.
"We plan to change, but we plan to stay the same," Marshall said. "We've been here for the last 200 years, and we intend to be here for the next 200."
