Ashes History: Serving Warrensburg For Two Centuries
Our historic pub is located in an original six-room Italianate boarding house built in 1836 on Hudson Street near the old Warren County fairgrounds, most likely by Walter Baker, who also owned the nearby Baker House. With its upper rooms still rented to guests today, Ashes is reportedly the longest continually running hotel in New York State and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Ashes Pub is named for Henry Ashe, who along with his father, purchased the hotel and a surrounding 260 acres from Baker in 1888. Former President Theodore Roosevelt purportedly stayed there around 1890, among other notable guests. Ashe upgraded and expanded the building in the ensuing years, renaming it the Agricultural Hotel in 1906, as a nod to the Warren County Agricultural Society fair held there at the fairgrounds between Woodward and Lake avenues—also known as Ashland Park—each year until 1929.
Over the decades, the changes at the hotel continued. In 1922 a radiotelephone was installed in the hotel, and both guests and Warrensburg citizens alike flocked to Ashes to listen to the World Series for the first time ever. That same year, Maurice Ashe inherited the property from Henry, his father, upon Henry’s death. Maurice changed the name again, to Ashe’s Hotel, and continued to own the historic property until his death in 1972.
After Maurice’s passing, the Ashe family’s 84 years of ownership came to an end, with the hotel going to Goldy Hitchcock. Through the ’80s there were several owners, including James and Claire O’Neill, until it was purchased by John and Bob Abbale, who ran Ashes until it was acquired in 2016 by current owner the Lotus Group of Companies, the multi-business entity created by Warrensburg residents Ash and Jaime Anand.
Under the Anands’ reinvigorating leadership, Ashes is now enjoying another new era in its nearly 200-year history. In keeping with Lotus’ commitment to boost and improve the Warrensburg community, its new owners have made significant improvements to nearly all aspects of the building, including new flooring and a host of kitchen upgrades. The first floor of the building is now split between Ashes Pub and a separate space for Ocho Cinco Cantina, a new Mexican restaurant that opened in January 2019.
Even with all its changes over time, the building’s unmistakable exterior still looks very much as it did in the 19th century. Stop in for a drink and some lively conversation, and maybe some fantastic Mexican food next door at Ocho Cinco Cantina, prepared by renowned chef Adam Bruce.
Spending time at Ashes is a rare opportunity to both step back into the past, while also experiencing this historic establishment’s vibrant present and future!