The "The General Sutter Inn Is Quietly Changing Names!" Story

 It was an ordinary day.  Reading the morning newspaper.  Leafing through the pages when I saw the headline that read, "Hotel installs signs to reflect name change."  It was back on Sunday, June 21, 2020 that I first wrote a story titled "'Black Lives Matter' is gaining momentum, Part II."  Story told about a gentleman named General John Sutter who was a Swiss pioneer who lived in California in the mid-1800s and established Sutter's Fort in 1841 in Sacramento, California.  While living in California he enslaved Native Americans as well as Hawaiians he had brought from their home island.  He found his way East and settled in the nearby town of Lititz, Pennsylvania.  

The Lititz Spring Hotel even- tually changed it's name in 1930 to the General Sutter Inn.  That was until recently when there was a push to try and remove his name from the Hotel due to his being a slave owner and the Inn's current owner, Mr. David Stout, made plans to do so.  He even had a wooden sculpture of General Sutter removed this past summer.  

The Inn displaying The General Sutter Inn sign

A few days ago the Hotel and restau- rant quietly changed its name to The Lititz Springs Inn & Spa.  The owner pointed out that the staff didn't feel good about General Sutter and things were coming out about him, relative to how he treated Native Americans.  It was an easy decision to change the name of his business.  

The wooden sculpture
that was removed.

The Hotel sits next to the Bulls Head Public House which is also owned by Mr. Stoudt.  He pointed out that the hotel is trying to emphasize a different part of its history.  He did comment though that Sutter's portraiture still hangs in the hotel's lobby, since it is a part of the history of the hotel.  He wanted to emphasize that he still wants to share both parts of the hotel's history.  The new signs on the exterior of the hotel were recently hung with little fanfare.  Mr. Stoudt said that was done on purpose to keep the publicity low key.  I'm sure that some residents are glad for the change, while others probably were happy with the old name.  You can never please everyone, but must try to do what you think is right, which is what the owner did in this case.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The new sign on the top of the door at Lititz Springs Inn & Spa

The Bulls Head Public House next to the Inn