The Orton Billiards & Pool Room
The Basement is the only surviving section of Orton Hotel which was built in 1886 for Col. Kenneth Murchison (1831-1906). Billiard and pool rooms, steam laundry, bakery, and bar room installed during the 1888 enlargement by W. A. Bryan, proprietor. After the hotel burned in 1949, the pool room continued to operate. On November 13, 1953, pocket billiards champion Willie Mosconi set a new world record by pocketing 365 balls.
The Orton Billiard and Pool Room is a recreational basement and the only surviving functional structure of the Orton Hotel. The Billiard and Pool Room is on 133 N Front Street, where it has been since it was connected to the Orton Hotel, built in 1888. The Orton Hotel itself was built in 1886 but with the increasing uses and accommodations that the hotel was proving to travelers the need for a recreation and pool hall become necessary in 1888, a decision that would be the legacy of the Orton itself.1 The Orton had multiple additions that feature throughout the history of the Pool Room as they were all connected making a large community center like a bakery, a steam room, and a bar.2 The Orton Hotel, which was the greatest structure that the Billiard and Pool Room became a part of, was a massive hotel that served as a staple of Wilmington bringing in major attractions from around the world until it burned down in 1949. The Hotel burned, but the basement, which housed its pool hall and recreational game room, survived the fire where it remains in service. The Orton Hotel and Pool Room adjacent are built in the Vernacular architecture style which make it independently unique when comparing it to the houses of its time. Most historic houses in Wilmington have the traditional Greek revival or Federalist style like the Lazarus House or Bellamy Mansion, but the Orton Billiard Room (and Hotel extended) is considered vernacular style.3 Vernacular style is where structures are built using repurposed materials and local materials. The room is unique because it is meant to be a community center for recreation, and being built using local materials makes the connection between the community and the building stronger.
1. Orton Plaque Application 1-3
2. Orton Plaque Application, 3
3. Orton Plaque Application, 3
The land for the Orton grounds was originally purchased by Col. Murchison from the widow of Alexander Anderson in 1879. While an insignificant part to the story of the Orton Billiard Room the widow of Alexander Anderson was at the time of her death ninety years old which was the oldest known woman at the time in Wilmington and was part of the same church as the future owner of the Orton Billiard Room.4
The Orton Billiard Room and Hotel was built to be a part of the Orton in 1988 by a New York architect J.A. Wood as job for the original owner of the hotel Col. Kenneth Murchison who appointed W.A. Bryan to be the proprietor of the Billiard Pool Room. Col. Kenneth Murchison was born in 1831 in Cumberland County, NC and was a successful merchant but primarily a banker and stockholder being the founder of the Murchison National Bank as well having substantial stock holdings in the post-civil war era in coal, cement, and natural supplies and resources fields.5
The Civil War was an important part of the history of the Orton and Col. Murchison as while he was living in New York training to be a banker, but the breakout of the Civil War caused him to need to come back to the south where he was promoted multiple times to the point of being a Colonel. Murchison fought in several battles such as Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Winchester before being captured at Rappahannock and then being sent to a Union Prison on Johnsons Island Michigan. He returned to New York after the war but continued to visit his home state of North Carolina where he was able to purchase the Orton Plantation on the Cape Fear, which began his business dealings in Wilmington. He then decided to build the hotel to increase his growing business interests in Wilmington by creating a place for businesspeople to come to Wilmington to participate in the railroad business and the ever-popular Cape Fear port. Due to his increased dealings with natural resources in the Cape Fear we see the Orton and Billiard Room being that vernacular architecture style mentioned prior where he was able to get local repurposed materials to build his hotel and further his recreation rooms surrounding his hotel.56
4. Orton Plaque Application, 3-6
5. Orton Plaque Application, 3-6
6. NCPedia.Org
The lineage of the hotel continues to this day when after Col. Kenneth Murchison died in in 1904 it was temporarily in the legal custody of his wife Katherine who was mentioned in the original deed so no will or financial courts would be able to challenge her claim. Katherine Murchison remained the principal owner of the Hotel and Billiard Room until her death in 1912. Her death had quite the impact on the community as this is the second of two projects I have completed on Wilmington where both original owners have had lasting impacts in their obituaries. The Wilmington Star wrote in their obituary of Katherine Murchison that claimed that she and her husband were “greatly loved by all her acquaintances and members of the community” the community was truly thankful for her, and husbands work after she died at the age of seventy-five.7
The hotel's deeds are well documented due to how large and economically significant it had been in the community. The property was sold in 1872 to the Murchison’s for $35,000. The bank of New Hanover then also accredited some land titles to the Murchison’s for another $15,000. After the death of Col. Murchison, a mortgage was placed on the Orton and Billiards room for $60,000. After the death of Katherine Murchison, the Hotel was placed in the hands of bank until it was bought by Joseph Hinton in 1915 for additional mortgages and bank ownership fees. This would be the end of the line of ownership for the Orton however as the building suffered a very unfortunate fate in 1949.8
The hotel and attached businesses were then routinely changed hands throughout the next thirty years with several men, women, and banks owning the Hotel with several new businesses being added to the structure. In 1924 attached to the Billiard Room was a barber shop and cigar stand. In 1934 a restaurant and grill were added to accommodate more guests’ needs and provide a community inside the hotel.9
Unfortunately, everything changed in 1949 when the Orton burned down, leaving everything that was part of the Orton scalding ash. The Orton, being that Vernacular architecture style, was in no means equipped to survive any kind of major fire and quickly went up in flames due to its exclusively wooden interior skeleton. The only surviving parts of the Orton Hotel were the Billiards room, which still stands today, as it receives this plaque. The Billiards and Pool room were in the basement of the building, so the overlaying fire mostly escaped the flames. The Billiards and Pool room still to this day serves as the longest continuous active Pool Hall in the country and proudly displays its “Established in 1888” sign above its entrance.10
7. Orton Plaque Application, 4-7
8. Orton Plaque Application, 4-7
9. Orton Plaque Application, 5
10. Orton Plaque Application, 4-8
The Billiards and Pool Hall continued throughout its history to be a relevant and hoping site for not just tourism but even global records. The Orton may have burned down in 1949 but the spirit of this famous pool hall continued to live on for several more generations. Only merely four years after the Orton burned down, in 1953 a world record was set in this very pool hall. Willie Mosconi, a world-renowned pool player, stopped in Wilmington to attempt to set a world record by potting 365 consecutive balls into pockets. He frequently visited the pool hall and always wanted to put on a show whenever he was there. This time he made sure to leave an impression by setting a recognized and witnessed world record. He would eventually beat that record three years later by hitting 526 consecutive balls into pockets, a record that would hold until 2019, which is remarkable. The Billiards room and pool while having the moniker of the longest consecutively ran pool hall in the country also has become quite the celebrity in afterlife as well. Several people unfortunately perished during the fires and still to this day several ghost hunters and haunted tours in Wilmington will often frequent. Due to its traditional history of gathering, partying, and gallivanting, amateur ghost adventurers' comment about seeing ghosts in and around the pool showing end of the century men and women sitting in their corners enjoying cigars that were purchased at the pool hall. Some stories even claim that alone at night people can hear the cracking of the q-ball smashing the eight in the corner pocket.11
11. Orton Plaque Application, 8
The plaque application, while brief due to it only featuring the Orton Billiards Room, is truly the perfect send off to the Orton. The Orton is obviously an important part of the economic boom of Wilmington after the Civil War but from its ashes remains just the simple pool hall and recreation room. A simple place for people to come and gather for an hour or two, smoke a cigar and then leave and go home. The plaque mention Col. Kenneth Murchison as the owner of the room and hotel and that all that is important, his other business or military affairs are not pertinent to this pool hall and hotel. This structure was for the community and was made from materials that came from the community. Col. Murchison may not have been from the Cape Fear community, but he made sure to continue to develop and provide for the community long after his death. He created his own family within the Cape Fear and with his death he made sure that his wife was able to continue ownership of the Orton as well.
Eleven lines were dedicated to this plaque and not a single line was wasted or forgotten, I am sure the personal stories that people could have shared about the Orton Billiard & Pool Room would be enough to fill an entire series of books worth but that is what makes places like this so special to the community. A community spot that is individualized for everyone to enjoy in their own way, no one person deserves to be on the plaque more than the next person, this Billiards room continues to function as that as well, a place for people to escape and enjoy life for a couple of hours. A place that even after being burned to the ground was able to survive at this point for another eighty years. The difference between structures like this and some of the historical houses we see downtown are that houses and mansions are meant to create memories and leave lasting impacts on the community, whereas something like the Orton Billiards Room serves as a place for people to share stories and enjoy the stories of people from all over the world. World class celebrities and pool players could walk in at any moment and share a story or make a story for those watching to pass for generations. Community spaces are so important and a plaque like this in front of the Orton Billiards & Pool Room is the final testament to Orton but also an era that has long passed but spirit remains today.
By Waldo Gil Vazquez III
