George Charles Boldt (1851-1916), a self-made millionaire, influenced development of the urban hotel as a civic social center and luxurious destination.

He was proprietor of the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel and owned the Bellevue-Stratford hotel , and was a trustee of Cornell University, to which school his daughter donated the Boldt Tower, a gothic residence hall. Perhaps best known for building Boldt Castle in the Thousand Islands area of New York State. The castle was intended as a gift for his wife Louise Kehrer Boldt, but when she died suddenly in 1904, construction was halted. The castle, largely completed, is now a major summer tourist attraction at Alexandria Bay.