Glenwood Hotel

The Glenwood Hotel is an historic landmark in the Village of Sloatsburg, NY.  In 1998,  new owners, Mr. & Mrs. DeMatteis made needed structural repairs while preserving the original structure and restoring the original appearance of the Glenwood Hotel of the early 1900's. In December of 1998, the restored building was reopened as the Aldente Italian American Restaurant.

The Village of Sloatsburg has a rich historical heritage. A number of early sites and structures still exist but many are in need of restoration.  The efforts of the Mr. and Mrs. DeMatteis in restoring one of the Village's oldest buildings, the historic Glenwood Hotel, for adaptive use as an haute-cuisine  restaurant  sets an excellent example and theme for encouraging further restoration activities in the Village.


HISTORY & CHRONOLOGY: 

Tax records of the late 1800's identify this property as containing three buildings.  One small building behind the present restaurant,  was to serve in the early 1900's as ice house for the Glenwood hotel.  A second, located in what is now the parking lot, served in the early 1900's as the Barber shop of Louis D'Avanzo then during the mid 1900's as the Boland Market.  This dilapidated old building was razed in 1974.  The third and largest building served in the late 1800's as a rooming house and was to became the Glenwood Hotel.  Henry Tobin purchased the property in 1903.  In 1906 Tobin's Saloon is listed in the Erie RR Directory for Sloatsburg and in 1908 the Glenwood Hotel is first listed.  The first floor was remodeled to serve as a restaurant offering open-air dining on the large veranda style porch in addition to an elegant main dining room..  The upper floors continued to be operated as boarding rooms, primarily for workers in the mills of Sloatsburg until around 1950.  The Glenwood Hotel was owned and operated by Henry and Kathleen Tobin.

Until the NYS Thruway opened in 1957, the Orange Turnpike (Route 17) was the only major highway for travelers from NYC, Rockland county and New Jersey to drive to upstate New York, Vermont and Canada.  The elegant dining rooms of the Glenwood Hotel, located directly on the Orange Turnpike, became a favorite dinner stop for many travelers.  This was also during the most active and years of nearby Tuxedo Park and those wealthy patrons were reported to be regulars at the Glenwood as well.  It is even rumored that during prohibition years (1920-1933),  the Glenwood offered its patrons other incentives as well.  Before prohibition, there was a workingman's bar in the rear but Mr. Tobin stood guard to ensure that no-one without a jacket and tie entered the dining room.

The Glenwood Hotel flourished as a restaurant for fine dining for nearly fifty years -  until the opening of the NYS Thruway diverted travelers away from the Orange Turnpike.  That, plus a diminishing of the super-rich era in Tuxedo Park, significantly reduced the traditional clientele for a first class restaurant.     

Sometime after the death of Mr. Tobin (1928),  a sister of Kathleen Tobin, Mrs. Williams recently widowed, came with her two children, Claire and Kerwin Williams, to live with Mrs. Tobin.  After Mrs. Tobin's death (1948) Claire and Kerwin lived in the upstairs of the building and continued the operation of the restaurant as the Glenwood Inn until around 1970.