Imagine checking in to H R Anderson's Rail Road Hotel in 1862. Dipping a pen into the inkwell to sign the big register book at the front desk. The "boy" carrying your valise or trunk up the dark flights of stairs and handing you a long brass key with the room number attached. How much would it cost for the night? 50 cents? You might have to share the room or even your bed! Peeling cabbage rose wallpaper, worn persian rug on the wood floor. No sink, no running water, no electricity, no toilet, just a bowl, pitcher of cold water, and chamber pot. Maybe a clean towel, soap might be extra.
Oil lamp or candle by the bedside, maybe a small stove or fireplace for heat, coal or firewood, extra. Was there a tin bath tub at the end of the hall filled with steaming kettles of hot water carried up the stairs, also extra?
The bed linens were probably laundered every week or so, no matter how many different guests slept in the bed. Respectable ladies did not travel alone or stay in commercial hotels if they did, so it was an all male clientele. Was full board available in the dining room?
Maybe stroll over to the Oddfellows Hall in the evening for whiskey and cigars.