The Fitzpatrick Hotel has defied the odds. Twice. Despite naysayers, brothers Thomas and John Fitzpatrick built the "magnificent" Fitzpatrick Hotel on the square in downtown Washington, Ga., in 1908 to serve travelers brought into town by mule-drawn trolleys from the train depot.

The hotel prospered during its prime, but later fell into disrepair.

In June 2004, Mike Todd, ChE 87, and his wife, Christy, reopened the Fitzpatrick Hotel, having painstakingly restored it to its original splendor over a period of 18 months. The refurbished structure contains all of the original brick and much of the original wood and interior structures and is furnished with period antiques, many of them provided by local residents Jenna and William Pope.

Some in Washington did not believe the hotel could be restored, much less returned to its original use, after 50 years of neglect during which part of the structure collapsed and large cottonwood trees grew up through the interior, Todd said.

Although the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, Washington's Downtown Development Authority, which purchased the property in 1997, had not been able to find a buyer committed to maintaining its historic character.

"The city owned the building and, at one point, determined that it could not be saved. They were going to raze it and put in a parking lot," said Todd, who worked as a chemical engineer for more than 14 years before he and his wife began purchasing and restoring historic homes in his hometown of Athens, Ga. The Fitzpatrick project is the couple's first foray into restoration of a commercial property.

In just 18 months after opening, the 17-room hotel reached "break-even" status, justifying the outlay the Todds and their partners, friend James Carter and Christy Todd's father, Amit Mehta, invested to bring it back from near destruction.

According to the hotel's Web site, www.thefitzpatrickhotel.com, citizens of Washington had doubts about the feasibility of the hotel from the beginning. In an advertisement run in the Washington Chronicle on Nov. 14, 1899, the Fitzpatrick brothers made it clear that the hotel was thriving — "We were told time and time again that Washington was dead, that we could do no business. Was your prediction correct? No! A thousand times no! Our three large stores are always crowded. We are doing twice the business we anticipated."

Todd admitted having the same doubts about buying a hotel in a rural town of less than 5,000 located 115 miles east of Atlanta.

"We felt it was too small an area, but when we saw it, we knew it was a wonderful building," he said. "It was in really bad shape, but it was beautiful. We had done so much historic renovation we knew what could be done with it.

"The Fitzpatrick succeeds because of the people in Washington. They love the building, they love their downtown. The city leaders, the people, the businesses, they are all working in the same direction and that is the reason we can be successful even though we are in a town of only 5,000 people."