Until August 10, 1909, when it was among 75 buildings in the village to burn to the ground in the fire which devastated the village, the Hotel Rockwell, near the court house, graced Monticello's downtown. A New York City paper, in 1890, called it "second to none of the houses in the same class... visited in the larger cities of this and neighboring states."While mainly catering to tourists, the Rockwell was also said to be "popular with traveling boys."