FRED Z. PANTLIND, the popular manager of the splendid Pantlind Hotel that adds greatly to the metropolitan facilities and prestige of Grand Rapids, is proving an able successor to his father as an exponent of high-class hotel enterprise, the name of Pantlind having been conspicuous in this important line of business in the city of Grand Rapids for more than half a century. Fred Z. Pantlind was born in Grand Rapids, July 26, 1886, and is a son of J. Boyd and Jessie L. (Aldrich) Pantlind, the former of whom died in 1922 and the latter of whom still resides in Grand Rapids, where the estate of her husband is one of large importance and where she herself has gained reputation as a woman of exceptional business ability, besides which she has long been a popular figure in the representative social activities of Michigan’s fair "Valley City". In the year 1835 Hiram Hinsdill erected in the village of Grand Rapids an unpretentious frame hotel that stood on the site of the of the present Morton Hotel. This primitive hotel, constructed and opened about two years prior to the admission of Michigan Territory to statehood, was first known as the Hinsdill House. In the late thirties the building was sold to Canton Smith, who thereafter conducted the hotel until 1865, and after the second building likewise was destroyed by fire, in 1872, a four-story brick building was erected on the site and given the name of Morton House. Of this hotel, long one of the foremost in western Michigan, Israel C. Smith, George B. Morton and A. V. Pantlind became the proprietors, and it was in 1872 that the late J. Boyd Pantlind became identified with the conducting of the Morton House. Mr. Pantlind became an authority in all that makes for successful hotel service and enterprise, and he gained wide reputation as one of the leading hotel men of Michigan, the while he brought the Morton House up to a high standard in all departments of its service. The name of Pantlind has stood exponent of the best in hotel service for more than half a century, and the popularity of the representatives of this family has been unqualified, both among the citizens of Grand Rapids and the traveling public. J. Boyd Pantlind long continued one of the representative business men and loyal and progressive citizens of Grand Rapids, and he did much to advance the civic and commercial precedence of his home city. Fred Z. Pantlind attended the public schools of Grand Rapids until he was fifteen years of age, was thereafter a student in Detroit University, and in 1906 he was graduated in historic old Phillips-Andover Academy. He had grown to adult age under the influences of the hotel atmosphere, and after completing his studies he became associated with his father in the hotel business, of which he has become one of the leading exponents in the state of Michigan. In 1916 was organized the corporation that erected the present magnificent Hotel Pantlind, and of this fine Grand Rapids hotel, on a parity with the best in the country, Fred Z. Pantlind has since continued the efficient and popular manager. He is one of the vital and progressive citizens and business men of his native city and has much of leadership in advancing measures and enterprises that contribute to the progress and prosperity of the city and the community. In the World war period he served as a member of the reserve corps of the United States Navy, and as an officer in the same he did much to promote enlistments, besides which he was influential in advancing all other patriotic movements in his home city and county. In 1906 Mr. Pantlind married Hilda Hummer and as a result of the union there are four children: Katherine, Hilda, J. Boyd II, and Frederica.

Transcriber: Evelyn Sawyer
Created: 21 June 2002