The Molly Pitcher Hotel
The Molly Pitcher Hotel opened on South Hanover Street in downtown Carlisle, Pennsylvania in 1919. It was built tight against the sidewalk and up against the adjacent buildings in the traditional way of the Pennsylvania Dutch towns.
The hotel’s namesake was town heroine Mary Ludwig, known as Molly Pitcher after the she followed her husband to the 1778 Battle of Monmouth and gained fame by dropping the pitcher she used to water the men to man her wounded husband’s cannon. A few steps from the Cumberland County Courthouse, the Molly was Carlisle’s flagship hotel, catering to an upscale clientele that cemented its reputation as the social center of town and place to go for fine dining. The 1940s postcard depicting the dining room and lounge shows a Dutchy-Modern décor with Streamline Moderne chairs and mirrored pillars surrounded by homey plant-painted walls. “The Molly” took on a different connotation in the 1960s and 1970s when it became a single-room occupancy hotel for the poor. Since 2004, it has been upgraded and restored and operates as a senior citizens apartment building.