Not after the Ransford was constructed, fire destroyed most of the buildings west of the building, but the Ransford was not damaged. In 1909, fire destroyed several buildings on the future site of the Iron Exchange building but without damage to the Ransford and again last year, the Iron Exchange building itself with its new Brainerd Hotel burned, but the Ransford escaped.

In the last quarter of the city's history, the trend in Brainerd as in other cities has been away from hotels to motels with convenient to highways. In the early days of the city, travelers came by railroad. Consequently most of the hotels were build in the vicinity of the passenger depot.

But as automobiles supplanted the railroad, hotels began to yield to cabin camps and then to motels. In fact, Brainerd with its tourist industry and its central location for salesman, has become a motel center with hundreds of accommodations being available throughout the year.

Latest of the new motels is Holiday Inn which was constructed only last year.