Hotel Fremont a gangster stopover?
By James Card
The legend of Al Capone being a guest at the Hotel Fremont is part of an oral history that has been passed down by local residents for decades.
It is well known that Al Capone and other Chicago gangsters of the Prohibition Era visited northern Wisconsin as a place to both vacation and lay low.
There is speculation that Capone owned a summer house on Cranberry Lake in the town of Couderay in Sawyer County and also a cabin on Spider Lake near the town of Mercer in Iron County.
His brother, Ralph Capone, retired to Mercer to run a tavern and was a long-term resident until he died in 1974. Capone is also thought to have visited Hurley, Minocqua and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
A road trip from Chicago to the Wisconsin northwoods is a long drive, especially in the 1920s and 1930s. A natural halfway point to stop and rest would be somewhere in central Wisconsin, a place like the Hotel Fremont.
“It was probably an eight-hour drive back in those days. There wasn’t the infrastructure with highways that we have now,” said owner Lisa Socha. “This was probably a halfway point for him and then he would continue going up.”
Socha and her husband Adam purchased the hotel in 2017. Originally from the Milwaukee area, they planned on retiring in the Fremont area as they had many fond memories vacationing at a cottage on White Lake that was owned by a family friend.
When the hotel came up for sale, they contacted a realtor they knew and made the move to purchase the Hotel Fremont.
“We came and enjoyed the scenery and the culture that comes with this area as well. Everybody is so welcoming and it just felt like a great fit,” said Socha.
Local Capone stories
And then they started hearing about Al Capone.
“I don’t have anything documented. These are just stories of people that come in and tell me about the hotel. It’s been told to me several, several times from people in the community that Al Capone used to stay here,” said Socha. “At first it kind of surprised me and now you can’t disregard it anymore because so many people have said that.”
The hotel was built in 1895 and first owned by John and Nevada Hildebrand. It originally was only two stories but later a third floor was added on, along with a restaurant. Ownership changed hands many times over the last century. It was once a Greyhound bus stop and also a wayside on the Yellowstone Trail.
There are rumors it was once a brothel where ladies of the night were very welcoming to white bass and walleye anglers.
“From what I hear Capone used to play cards with a lot of the people around here. It was kind of don’t ask, don’t tell. When an entourage of well dressed people with wealth would show up there would be large card games. The grandfathers and uncles and dads would go play and the kids would be left behind,” said Socha.
“It’s also been rumored that Wisconsin police left him alone. Most of his crimes were committed in Illinois so when he came up here, they kind of said if you don’t bother our state, we won’t make a big deal of you being up here. It was always the F.B.I. chasing him, not the Wisconsin police,” said Socha.
Room No. 10 on the second floor was Capone’s room of choice. On the southeast corner of the room there is a floor-to-ceiling bay window that provides a wide-angle view of what is happening on the street below.
“Because you can see up and down Wolf River Drive. There is only one road in, one road out. It was also told to me that if he would see the F.B.I. coming for him, he would jump out into his boat and go up or downriver to get away from the police,” said Socha. “The old hotel had a balcony and I’m sure that was also used as a lookout vantage point.”
Around the time of Capone’s rise as a mob boss, a seawall was built along the hotel where boats could dock.
At a thrift shop, Socha found an old black and white photograph of the hotel as it is viewed from the river. The image shows boats moored along the seawall which confirmed that Capone’s escape plan was viable. The old photo now hangs in the restaurant.