A unique stay in the heart of Sisters Oregon

History of the Palace Hotel & Sisters

Grace and George Aitkens

Grace Cyrus was born in 1886 to Oregon pioneers. She did well in school and attended Prineville High. In 1907 she begun her business training by working for the postmaster Robert Smith in Sisters. She married George Aitkens in 1906 and had two sons. The post office was destroyed in the 1923 fire. Only one letter and two packages were destroyed. They moved the former building of Mrs. Aitkens to the burn site.She was postmaster until 1937. After George Aitkins died she was Sisters librarian for 16 years.

George Aitkens was born on a farm sublimity Oregon in 1887. He attended business college in Portland and worked in his father’s grocery store in Salem. He came to sisters in 1912 where he established the city’s first and only newspaper “The Herald.” He discontinued this and bought a drugstore which burned down in the 1923 fire. They rebuilt and enlarged it to include sporting goods, souvenirs and a soda fountain. This was The Grand Palace. George was secretary of the squaw Creek irrigation district for 20 years. It was his suggestion to place the Wizard Falls fish hatchery on the Metolius River.

George Aitkens made his own ice cream in 5 gallon bathes. Mrs. Aitkens made real huckleberry toppings. In the winter, George flooded ponds, chopped ice and stored the ice in a special room filled with sawdust insulated walls.

The old Sisters hotel was built in 1910 by John Dennis. It was rented out to families until it was moved to Adams and Fir and eventually torn down. In 1912  new hotel built by Dennis, The Rubble Drug Store was located there and a new water system was added. The Sisters Hotel survived both 1923 and 1924 fires but was badly scorched. The hotel had several owners and was used as a road house, a retreat , a antique store and a mountaineering store. The saloon was gutted and remodeled in 1890 or 1900’s. In 1983, Bill Reed, John Tehan and John Keenan had intensive remodeling done.

Charlie Gist

Gist post office was established February 14th, 1907 at the Gist ranch several miles S.E. of Sisters. It closed June 25th, 1920. Mr Gist then moved to Sisters and ran the Gist hotel formally known as the Commercial Hotel. The post office and the hotel were destroyed in a fire that started from Mrs. Gist kitchen. Mrs. Gist had left to pick blackberries in her garden. The gist’s then moved to Bend where they lived until Charlie’s death in 1933.

The first school in this area was built about 1885 with 30 children. The building was a hand built log cabin about 2 miles out of Sisters.
The first school in Sisters was built in 1890 and had one room. In 1900 this was replaced by a 2 room building where the present school stands.
In 1912 the old building was replaced by a six room building which served the district 42 years.

The three Sisters, Faith – Hope-Charity, were named by the Methodist mission of Sisters beginning with the North sister in about 1840.
South Sister has the highest elevation of the 3, 10,354 ft with a lake near the summit.
North Sister has an elevation of 10,094 feet.
Middle Sisters has elevation of 10,053 feet.

Historic information was taken from the Sisters library and the Bend library. Most references were quoted from “That Was Yesterday” by Tillie Wilson and Alison Scott and “Oregon Sisters Country’ by Raymond Hatton.

Hardy Allen’s Blacksmith’s shop was built in the 1900’s and was destroyed by the 1924 fire. The 2nd story was used as a dance and other social events were held there.
Hardy Allen’s house was once considered one of the most attractive in Sisters. The house was located from 310 E. Main and Larch and remodeled. On October 24th 1992 the building was listed as a historical landmark. It is presently a flower shop.

The town boasted a jail  located on the Main Street. It had no heat, water or furniture. The town had no law officer and as far as Its known no one has been locked up in it. 1904