Banning House Lodge Anniversary

Santa Catalina Island Celebrates the Centennial Anniversary of Banning House Lodge on April 10th

AVALON, Catalina Island, Calif. — Santa Catalina Island Company is celebrating a milestone in the island’s history, the centennial anniversary of the Banning House Lodge. The celebration will take place on Friday April 9th with activities that include a Centennial Dinner at the historic property.

The lodge’s 100-year Anniversary Celebration will pay tribute to this historic building and the brothers who once owned the island. The Banning House Lodge, perched on a hill overlooking both the Isthmus and Cat Harbor in Two Harbors, was built in 1910 to serve as the summer home of the Banning brothers. To reach their residence on the east side of the Island, the three brothers traveled by stagecoach from Avalon—a rugged, one-way journey that took two days. Later, the lodge served as the U.S. Coast Guard officers’ quarters during WWII, as a private girls’ camp in the late 1950s, as a hunting lodge, and as employee housing. Today it is a charming twelve-room bed and breakfast that retains a feel from the past

The Banning Brothers, sons of General Phineas Banning, who founded the town of Wilmington, California, purchased Catalina Island in 1892. Brothers William, Joseph and Hancock had already provided steamship transportation to the Island and were well aware of its potential. In 1894 they created the Santa Catalina Island Company, quickly developing activities and attractions and increased promotion of their new resort destination.  Because of their efforts, Avalon was soon home to an aquarium, incline railway, amphitheater, glass bottom boat tours, and more. The Island's popularity grew, but much of the brothers’ real estate in Avalon was destroyed in a devastating fire in November 1915. This major loss, coupled with reduced tourism during World War I, led to the brothers selling the Island, which paved the way for chewing gum innovator William Wrigley Jr. to purchase the Santa Catalina Island Company (including the Island) in 1919.

For more information on Banning Lodge’s Centennial celebration, visit www.visittwoharbors.com.