There are many two-storey buildings in Tamworth today, but the one pictured was our first.
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This was built originally as the Tamworth Hotel, located in Peel Street at the current Target site.
Built in 1854 by local George Cohen, he was assisted by 21-year-old William Springthorpe Dowel, who'd arrived in Tamworth that year after goldseeking at Rocky River near Uralla.
This was the first of many impressive buildings constructed by Dowel, many still standing, including Munro's Mill and Mechanics Institute.
The smaller building on the left is the office of the Tamworth Examiner, our first local newspaper established in 1859, later taken over by its successor the Tamworth Observer.
Both buildings in the photo had impressive wooden shingle roofs.
The Hotel eventually did not prove a financial success, and the building was taken over as the Northern Police District headquarters from 1862 to 1872, before resuming as a hotel.
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This photo shows Police Superintendent Garland's family on their top floor residence, with some police officers below.
This was the first named Tamworth Hotel, with a second so-named hotel opening in 1870 on the western corner of Peel and White Streets, also a two-storeyed building.
In more recent years we have the existing Tamworth Hotel in Marius Street, opposite our Railway Station.