History of the Occidental Hotel

Hello, thanks for stopping by this site.

In 1870 an American publican named Edward Perkins opened the Occidental Hotel in Auckland, New Zealand. The hotel included a museum of curiosities in natural history and other extraordinary phenomena.

The Illustrated Australian News 27 December 1877 described it as having:

‘On its walls and in cases enough pictures, many by really good artists, oleographs, shells, weapons, and curiosities generally to stock any two public museums in Australasia. There are also hundreds upon hundreds of lithographed and photographed portraits of theatrical people, and men and women of mark, framed and glazed or under glass cases. Opened out as an exhibition the collection would draw for months.’

Perkins ran the hotel from 1870 – circa 1879.

In 1875 he married Miss Ada Foos (also spelt Foose) while on a trip to Australia and America. Ada was the daughter of Joseph Foos, son of General Joseph Foos, an Ohio State Senator who named Columbus, Ohio. Ada’s mother, Rebecca Foos [Rebecca Stroupe], was said to have been the first woman to have traveled overland by stage line to California.

Joseph and Rebecca Foos went to Australia in the 1850s for 20 years where Joseph became a successful hotelkeeper with considerable gold mining interests. This was probably where Perkins and Ada first met. In the 1870s the Foos left Australia for America and settled in Winfield Township, Cowley County, Kansas.

The Winfield Courier October 7, 1875 wrote that:

‘We predict the love which impelled [Perkins] to cross the seas, all the way from Australia to Winfield, to consummate his early vows with the fair Ada, will not fail him as they journey down life’s stream together. The bride, as most of our readers know, is the daughter of the late Joseph Foos, who was one of the pioneers of this County. The fair Ada is one of nature’s noble women, and not one of her acquaintances but sincerely regret her departure from our community. The bride’s mother will accompany them as far as Springfield, Ohio, where she will spend winter among friends, while Mr and Mrs Perkins will proceed to New York, there to be joined by the mother in the spring, when they will sail for their old home.’

The couple had at least two daughters.

The Winfield Courier December 7, 1876 noted that: ‘The many friends of Mrs Perkins, nee Ada Foos, will be glad to learn that her “island home” has been visited by a little angel with golden hair.’ This was the eldest, Minnie [Mamie, or Maude?] Louisa Perkins,  who was born in Auckland in 1876. Another daughter, Rheta P. Perkins, was born to the couple in Auckland in 1879.

Around this time, Edward Perkins left New Zealand for Australia where the family ran the Royal Exchange Hotel, Sydney. Sadly in 1880, Minnie [Mamie, or Maude?] Louisa Perkins, died aged just three years and eight months.  Thereafter the family and/or Perkins lived for some time at St. John, New Brunswick.

Edward Perkins died at St. Luke’s Hospital, Chicago on May 22, 1905 aged 69 and is buried in Mt. Greenwood Cemetery, Chicago.

According to the 1910 United States Federal Census, Rebecca Foos, Ada Perkins, and daughter Rheta P. Perkins, by then a bookkeeper working in a laundrette to support the family, were living together in Los Angeles, California. Interestingly, Edward Perkins birthplace was given as New Brunswick. Rebecca died in 1913, aged 86 and Ada in 1920, aged 69.

Rheta P. Perkins became Rheta P. Burnett upon marrying Gilbert Forbes Burnett, son of John Robert Burnett and Genet Acker Torboss. She died in Los Angeles in 1940, while husband Gilbert died in 1951.

In 1993 I published a booklet that sat on the bar of the Occidental Hotel for patrons interested in the history and publicans of the hotel, including Edward Perkins. It is available below for you to download to read. It includes an 1877 New Zealand descriptive guide to Perkins’ hotellic museum. I hope you find it of interest.

Since the booklet was published, more details have come to light.

We now know that Occidental publicans after Perkins exhibited curiosities. Whether this was some, none, or all ? of Perkins’ museum collection is unknown.

We also now know that the Occidental Hotel, presently known as the Occidental Belgian Beer Cafe, was rebuilt in 1884. This is the left hand side Italianate architectural styled part of the building.

Whether or not the right hand single storey side of the current hotel is the 1877 billiard saloon built for Perkins is unknown.

We don’t have any photographs of Perkins, the museum or the hotel during this 1870’s period. Nor do we know much about Perkins himself.

Do you recognize any of the exhibits described in the downloadable booklet below? Presumably they were broken up in the ensuing years.

Any historical help from you is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

DOWNLOAD THE HISTORY OF THE OCCIDENTAL HOTEL. PDF HERE

A History of the Occidental Hotel [1993]

Occidental Hotel in 2015. LH side Italianate part is the 1884 rebuild. Whether or not the RH single storey side is the 1877 billiard saloon built for Perkins is unknown.Occidental Hotel in 2015. Left hand side Italianate part is the 1884 rebuild. Whether or not the right hand single storey side is the 1877 billiard saloon built for Perkins is unknown.

17 thoughts on “History of the Occidental Hotel”

  3. Hello there, Rebecca Foos [Rebecca Stroupe] obituary in the Winfield Daily Free Press, Saturday January 25, 1913 p. 1 reads:

    ‘MRS FOOS DEAD. There died recently in Los Angeles one of Cowley County’s pioneers. Mrs Rebecca Foos, aged eighty-six. She came to this County in 1870 when the Indians were giving way to the first settlers. Her husband settled on the land now known as the Foos Farm, on the Douglass road five miles north of town. She moved to California about 10 years ago. The remains have been cremated and will be sent here for burial beside her husband in Union Cemetery.’

    http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/62729627/

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  4. Hello, I have some more information pertinent to Edward and Ada Perkins.

    In February 1885 Perkins ‘who established the Occidental Hotel’ was reported to be about to resume the proprietorship. (Auckland Star 27 February, 1885). This would have been of the new 1884 Occidental Hotel building described in your narrative above.
    However he suffered from edema (known then as dropsy) and in July 1885 was reported to be in a precarious state of health. (NZ Herald 6 July 1885). This may have curtailed his plans.
    In 1900 in Chicago he wrote to a friend in New Zealand saying that at the time he was saved by the water of the Te Aroha Soda lithia springs (Waikato, New Zealand) that he described as ‘the health curer of the world’. He stated that: ‘Without joking I gained the first ounce of flesh there that I received after being tapped four times for dropsy, and attributed to the fresh mountain air [and] the healthy waters. There was a soda lithia spring there that seemed to me when I drank a glass of it, there was more inspiration in it than many a “hot Scotch” I had taken in luxury.’ Prior to his arrival at Te Aroha ‘on a wheel cart’ he had been told by his doctor (Mr McMullin) ‘that operated upon me four different times, and not only let out about two pails full of discoloured water, but took out all the badness in me, and made a cure of me’ that he had less than six hours to live. My ‘tongue clove to the roof of my mouth, I could not speak or see, but could hear; my memory fails me to tell you all but when I was able to be taken to Te Aroha I felt then, after a few days, that I was resurrected, and here I am wallowering around [in Chicago] in the snow with the thermometer four degrees below zero. It is now 5 p.m. and I still have to walk over a mile and then ride home to Maywood, eleven miles from here. I am the healthiest dropsical patient in the world.’ (Auckland Star 23 March 1900)

    The Winfeld Courier July 2, 1885 reported that: “Mrs. Foose’s [Foos] daughter, Mrs. Perkins, and her daughter [Rheta], spent Friday last in Winfield with friends.” The Winfield Courier October 18, 1883 (or December 20, 1883) also reported that: “Dr F.H. Bull last week sold his residence on East North Avenue to Mrs. Ada Foos, recently from Australia, but a resident of Winfield in the early days.” So it may well have been that Mr and Mrs Perkins had separated around this time.

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    1. Hi, Rebecca Foos seems to have accompanied Edward & Ada Perkins back to Australia. A publican’s license to run the Oxford Hotel, Sydney was transferred to her in August 1879 (Sydney Daily Telegraph 27/8/1879). She transferred the license of the Oxford Hotel, Oxford-street, Sydney in 1883. (Sydney Morning Herald 20/7/1883). This fits with her daughter Ada Perkins moving back to Winfield in October / December 1883 where she acquired a house using her former surname ‘Foos’. Presumably her mum went with her following the separation or divorce of Edward and Ada around this time.

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  5. Perkins was in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia prior to establishing the Occidental Hotel in Auckland, New Zealand in 1870.
    The Tasmanian newspaper 11 March 1882 notes: “Ned Perkins formerly of Ballarat, latterly of Auckland, and now host of the Exchange Hotel, Sydney.”

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  6. Hello again, Edward Perkins offered the lease, goodwill, fixtures, furniture, and museum collection of the Occidental Hotel for sale by auction in 1874. Despite a top bid of 1500 pounds, it didn’t meet his reserve though and he withdrew the property from bidding and decided instead to dispose of it privately at some later date. (Thames Advertiser 7 April, 1874).

    The right hand single storey side of the current hotel, the 1877 billiard saloon built for Perkins, was designed by the architect Edward Mahoney. Mr. Matthews was the contractor. The amount of the building contract was 900 pounds. (Auckland Star 26 October 1876.)

    Edward Mahoney & Sons also designed the 1884 hotel (left hand side) that is four stories high, including the basement. The contractor was John Lynch. The contract price was 1849 pounds. (Auckland Star 3 July 1884)

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  7. Futher detail on Edward Perkins is found in this obituary in The Daily News 2 August 1905 from Australia.

    ‘By the last mail from America intelligence came to hand of the death of Mr. Edward Perkins, who raised and kept a big sporting house in Auckland (N.Z.) in the old days, and who was a resident of New South Wales for many years.
    It may be remarked that it was a lucky visit that Mr. Perkins paid to New South Wales, in 1879, that secured the famous Goldsbrough mare Frailty for Auckland. We have often been told that Mr. Perkins held a commission to purchase Frailty for the Messrs. Morrin, but that can be legitimately doubted. The mare was simply bought by Mr. Perkins at 60 guineas, as a speculation, and he re-sold her to Messrs. Morrin. It was a fortunate day for Auckland when Frailty was secured by Mr. Perkins.’

    Also from St. John, New Brunswick, Canada in the St. John Daily Sun newspaper for May 31, 1905.

    ‘EDWARD PERKINS. On Tuesday of last week, died in Chicago, where during several years past he had resided, Edward Perkins, youngest son of the late A. S. Perkins Esq. of this city. Mr. Perkins was born in 1836, had since his early manhood, lived abroad – part of the time in New York, part in the Western States of America and part in New Zealand and other distant lands. His two sisters, Miss M. J. Perkins and Mrs. W[illiam] P[eters] Dole [nee Louisa Perkins 10/10/1833 – 24/1/1908], are the survivors out of their father’s family of three sons and three daughters.’

    William Peters Dole [26/6/1825 – 26/6/1910],a St. John attorney/barrister/professor/poet married Louisa Perkins in June 1872. At the time of the marriage Ambrose S. Perkins, father of Louisa Perkins, was described as the late deceased Ambrose S. Perkins Esq. of St John City. (Daily News June 21, 1872).
    Captain Ambrose S. Perkins was born 1790 – 1/4/1859 and died aged 70 years. He married Annabelle (or Annabella) McPherson (nee Perkins) on June 7, 1820. It appears as though he was Edward Perkins father.
    Mary Jane Perkins 1838? – 26/8/1908, a spinster who lived at 15 Coburg St, St John, New Brunswick at the time of her death has the name ‘Ambrose Perkins’ at the bottom of her death certificate. So she appears to be the Miss M. J. Perkins mentioned. The sister of Edward Perkins.
    Edward Perkins’ other sister was Annabella Perkins (1821-1879) who married Jesse Pickard (1817-1884), a merchant. They moved to New York and had a daughter Mary Jane “Mame” Pickard (1848-1898) who in turn married Frederick Lyman Talcott II (1843-1912) and they had a child Harriet N. Talcott (1875-?).

    To confuse things somewhat, another Ambrose S. Perkins (b. 1812/1813), died aged 69 years on 4/5/1881 (New Brunswick Courier). He left a wife, and seven children. Boston papers were asked to copy. The funeral was from Gilbert’s Lane, half past 2 o’clock Thursday. (The Daily Telegraph). Isabella Perkins (nee Henderson) 1814 – 2/2/1905, the wife of this Ambrose S. Perkins, was originally from Aberdeen, Scotland. Her parents were John Henderson and Isabella Littlejohn.
    Some of the seven children presumably attributed to this second Ambrose S. Perkins (as we know that Edward Perkins was the youngest son and he was born in 1836 so it doesn’t seem as though this was his father) were: George E. Perkins (1850/1851 – 2/7/1909) who died in Boston, Massachusetts and was married (19/2/1875) to Cynthia A. Perkins [nee Patterson]; Ambrose N. Perkins (or Nelson Ambrose Perkins) born 1839; and Isabella Perkins born 1835.
    Susanna Perkins, another child was born 27/1/1848 and became a school teacher before marrying J. A. Campbell. She became known as Susie Campbell and died 3/9/1920 aged 72 years.
    The 1851 Canada Census lists: Ambrose S. Perkins (head of the household) aged 39; Isabella (wife) aged 37 – Scotch – date entered colony 1833; Isabella (daughter) – aged 16; Mary Ann (Daughter) – aged 14; Ambrose N. (Son) aged 12; Susanna (Daughter) aged 3; George E. (Son) aged 1.
    This Census record refers to this second Ambrose S. Perkins born 1812/1813.

    Just to confuse things even further, there was one more Ambrose S. Perkins (1825/26? – 13/8/1904), formerly a merchant, who has the name ‘W. P. Dole’ in addition to the undertaker at the bottom of his death certificate.The St. John Daily Sun 15 August, 1904 ‘Deaths’ column records: ‘PERKINS – suddenly on Sat. August 13th, Ambrose Perkins, aged 79 years. Funeral today (Monday) at 3 p.m. from the residence of W.P. Dole, 132 Sewell Street.’He may have been Edward Perkins brother.

    Hopefully someone can provide more details to clarify the family history.

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    1. I would like to thank Mike for creating this website and all the participants who have added more information. I find it very helpful.

      The Edward Perkins of Occidental Hotel fame & I shared a common ancestor who migrated to what is now New Brunswick, Canada at the end of the American Revolution. Please allow me to help untangle the 4 Ambrose Perkinses of New Brunswick who are mentioned in this website. Yes, they were all related, but only 2 belonged to Edward’s immediate family.

      First, Edward’s parents were Ambrose S. Perkins, born about 1790, and died Mar. 31, 1859, and his wife Annabella (McPherson) Perkins, born Mar. 25, 1785 and died Jan. 2, 1872. Annabella was the widow of John Fairclough when she married Ambrose S. Perkins. Ambrose S. Perkins was the son of Francis Newman Perkins and his wife Hannah (Disbrow) Perkins. Hence Edward was the grandson of Francis Newman Perkins.

      Edward was the youngest of 6 children. His siblings were:

      1. Annabel/Annabella Perkins, baptized Aug. 12, 1821; died June 26, 1879 in New Jersey. She married Jesse Pickard in 1841 and they moved to New York City around 1853/54.
      2. Ambrose Perkins, born about 1826; died Aug. 13, 1904. He was unmarried. He visited & lived with the Pickards in New York & New Jersey but died in Saint John, New Brunswick.
      3. Mary Jane Perkins, born about 1829; died Sept. 26, 1908. She was unmarried.
      4. William P. Perkins, born about 1831; died Apr. 12(?), 1866. He was unmarried. He also lived in New York with the Pickards for a while.
      5. Louise Susannah Perkins, born Oct. 10? 1833 or 1835; died Jan. 24, 1908. She married William P. Dole. Some sources give the order of her names as Susannah Louise. She went by Louise.

      Edward went to New York with the Pickards around 1853 or 54.

      This takes care of the first 2 Ambroses.

      One of Francis Newman Perkins’ brothers was Joseph Moss Perkins. The descendants of Joseph Moss Perkins would have been cousins to Edward Perkins. That actually includes me, because Joseph Moss Perkins was my 3x-great-grandfather.

      Joseph Moss Perkins and his wife Annie (Hatfield) Perkins had a son who was also named Ambrose S. Perkins. This Ambrose S. Perkins was born about 1812 and died May 3, 1881. He is the Ambrose who married Isabella Henderson (1814-Feb. 2, 1905).

      This Ambrose and his wife Isabella had a son named Ambrose Nelson Perkins, baptized Apr. 7, 1839 and died June 6, 1910. (For most of his life, this Ambrose went by Nelson, his middle name. Nelson died unmarried.)

      This Ambrose & his wife Isabella were also the parents of the Susanna Perkins who married James Alfred Campbell.

      The Susie Perkins who married J.A. Campbell was NOT Edward’s sister. Some of the confusion is caused by the fact that Edward’s sister Louisa had the middle name of Susannah. Edward’s sister is the one who married W.P. Dole and remained in Saint John, New Brunswick. Susie (Perkins) Campbell and her family lived in Kings County, New Brunswick.

      I hope this helps.

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  8. Hi, I am undertaking doctoral research on women on the Victorian goldfields between Jamieson and Woods Point (where Joseph and Rebecca Foos lived in the 1860s) so am very interested in these tidbits about the Foos and Perkins families. (I will have to check out the Occidental next time I am in Auckland) I have seen some of the sites listed above, but would be interested to know if anyone can point me in the direction of a source for the claim that Rebecca was the first woman who travelled overland by stage line to California.
    I haven’t come across much published info about Joseph and Rebecca in Victoria, but if anyone is interested they are mentioned in Brian Lloyd’s ‘Gold in the Ranges: Jamieson to Woods Point’ (Hampton East: Histec Publications, 2009), or you can search the National Library of Australia’s TROVE database of digitised newspapers for other references to Joseph and his business partner in Woods Point – William Barber Oat, another American.

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  10. Hi, apparently Mrs Perkins (nee Ada Foos) was very accomplished at butter making. She won first prize at the Agricultural and Pastoral Association Exhibition in Auckland, New Zealand in 1878 despite complaints from the city’s six principal grocers that she hadn’t added salt as was the custom. It was reported that: ‘It is nothing new for her to be a successful prize-taker in butter – having two years in succession carried off the highest honours in Kansas, United States, from over 130 exhibitors.’ (New Zealand Herald 21/11/1878)

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  11. Joseph & Rebecca Foos had another child besides Ada Foos. A son by the name of William [Lincoln] Foos born around 1866 who died on 7/1/1869 in Queensland.

    “We are informed by a telegram received from Gympie that William Foos, a fine boy about four years of age, son of Mr Joseph Foos, formerly of Wood’s Point, has been accidentally killed. It appears that the child had been on the street when he got knocked down by a horse drawing a heavy load. The dray passed over his body by which he was instantly killed.” (Alexandra Times, Victoria, Australia – 14/1/1869)

    Jospeh, Rebecca and Ada left Australia very shortly afterwards back to America. (Sydney Morning Herald 20/2/1869 – “Clearances” outwards to San Francisco).

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    1. The Foos family did not depart for San Francisco in that article from the Sydney Morning Herald, Feb. 20, 1869. The ship that had the clearance to San Francisco was the Ashburton but the Fooses were not on board the Ashburton. They were on the ship the Blackbird, which was bound only for Melbourne. They are in the next entry line below the Ashburton.

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