The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 502 A portrait of C. H. M. Gronvold appears in this publication. C. H. M. GRONVOLD. The late C. H. M. Gronvold was well known as manager of the Grand Hotel of Yakima. He was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, March 9, 1869, a son of Christian and Mary Gronvold. The father has departed this life, but the mother is still living in Denmark. The son acquired a public school education in his native country and came to America in 1887, when a youth of eighteen years. He made his way first to Chicago, Illinois, then to Denver, Colorado, and later settled in Pueblo, that state. Subsequently he became one of the pioneers in the Cripple Creek district, where he engaged in mining for seven years, and afterward he was at Nelson and at Rossland, British Columbia, where he followed mining for three years. In 1900 he was married and spent his honeymoon in Alaska, after which he returned to Seattle. Later he went to Skagway, Alaska, where he devoted a year and a half to mining, and next was at Valdez, Alaska, where he continued in mining for a year and a half. On returning to Washington he became connected with the hotel business in Astoria, where he spent five years, after which he was proprietor of the Princess Hotel in Portland, Oregon, for two years. Removing to Roseburg, Oregon, he conducted the McClellan Hotel of that place for a year and then again spent a year in Portland. In 1913 he arrived in Yakima and became proprietor of the Grand Hotel, so continuing until his death on September 9, 1918. The hotel was established in 1912. It is a five-story structure, one hundred and twenty-five by one hundred and forty-three feet, and contains two hundred rooms. It is a brick and cement building with basement and of steel and fireproof construction. It has forty-nine rooms with bath and there are three public baths on each floor. A cafe is carried on in connection with the hotel, which is conducted on the European plan. A fine auto bus meets all trains and the hotel is steam heated throughout, with hot and cold water in each room and telephone connection to each room. About thirty people are employed and everything is strictly modern and conducted to the utmost point of comfort for the guests. All this had been brought about through the unceasing activities of Mr. Gronvold, who thus won a well deserved reputation as a leading and popular hotel proprietor in the northwest. In addition to his hotel business he was the owner of valuable properties, including three fine ranches, one in the Yakima valley and two in Oregon. In 1900 Mr. Gronvold was married to Miss Anna Josephine Bott, who was born in Leavenworth, Kansas. They had one child, George, whose birth occurred in Skagway. Alaska, in 1901, and who is now in Siberia with the Canadian army, having been refused enlistment in the United States army on account of his age. Mr. Gronvold belonged to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, to the Commercial Club, to the Yakima Valley Business Men's Association and to the Sour Doughs, an Alaskan society. In politics he was an independent republican. He possessed a genial, social nature which constituted an element in his success as hotel manager and at the same time he was well endowed with those business qualifications -- executive ability and administrative direction -- which are so essential in the conduct of interests such as claimed his time and attention. His death, which was quite sudden, came as a distinct shock to his many friends as well as his wife and son, and in him Yakima lost a most progressive and valuable citizen. His memory will long be cherished by those who knew him more intimately and who thus were able to judge of his noble traits of character. In his friendships he was ever steadfast and true, but he was above all else deeply devoted to his family. Mrs. Gronvold is now very ably carrying on the business, the years of collaboration with her husband having brought her the needed experience. With pride she anticipates the return of her son from foreign battlefields, who then will assist her in the conduct of the large enterprise, thus relieving her of much of the burden which her manifold duties now lay upon her. ******************************** Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in December 2007 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.