VOYAGEURS NATIONAL PARK— The National Park Service is looking for ideas and interest for maintaining the historic Kettle Falls Hotel, a popular destination in the park. The park service has issued a Request for Expressions of Interest, RFEI, open to individuals, educational institutions, government entities, nonprofit or for-profit organizations interested in the preservation and re-use of one or more of the facilities at Kettle Falls.
The RFEI allows interested parties an opportunity to review the property, facilities, and surrounding park land, and to submit their ideas for potential future use of the facilities.
The Kettle Falls Hotel currently has ten rooms available for overnight stays, along with a restaurant and bar. The surrounding site offers additional opportunities, including three villas, four newly installed camper cabins, two marinas, one portage road, one general store, one staff housing complex, and multiple outbuildings. Several of the facilities in this area are eligible for listing or are already listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Constructed by timber cruiser Ed Rose and reputedly financed by Madame Nellie Bly, the Kettle Falls Hotel has accommodated and entertained travelers since 1913. Robert Williams bought the hotel in 1918 for $1,000 and four barrels of whiskey. From its somewhat scandalous past, grew a long tradition of hearty home cooking and hospitality served for decades by the Williams family.
More recently, the hotel has been run under a concession with Oveson Kab-Con, Inc., although the initial ten-year contract expired in 2020 and has since been extended on a temporary basis through 2026. The park service had issued a Request for Proposals in 2022 but found no interest in continuing to operate the facility as a hotel and restaurant. The park service is hoping that the broader RFEI will generate some new ideas for the future of the historic site.
Kettle Falls and the hotel named after it are located at the junction of Rainy and Namakan lakes, within Voyageurs National Park. The hotel is remarkably remote, accessible only by water, and is at least 15 miles from the nearest road, which complicates operations and maintenance of the facilities there.
 Copies of the RFEI are available for downloading at www.sam.gov. A formal site tour will be held to allow interested parties to observe existing conditions and current operational uses at each of the Kettle Falls facilities (including building interiors) on Wednesday, May 21. Individuals and organizations interested in attending the site visit must register to attend by emailing VOYA_Commercial@nps.gov by close-of-business on April 30.
 For more information, please visit https://www.nps.gov/voya/getinvolved/dobusinesswithus.htm or view the RFEI at www.sam.gov.