Lonsdale Street, Dandenong, 1909.

Looking from near Foster Street towards the Town Hall (Walker Street) and beyond.

The old Bridge Hotel is visible on the left-hand side. Later known as Old Dandy Inn, before becoming the Jim Dandy and recently the Dandenong Hotel. Presently it is up for sale again. Although the hotel does still stand, renovations have made most of its history obsolete to the history seeker.

Built in 1858, the Hotel has seen many name changes and renovations. In 1858, Michael Hennesy had started to build the Bridge Hotel, but ran into financial difficulties and the building was completed by George Hughes and John Prevot. That same year the hotel provided one of its rooms for use by the Court of Petty Sessions.

It was also used for meetings by the Dandenong Road District Board. The Bridge Hotel was the terminus and inter-change for a coach service to Grantville, Tooradin and Melbourne. George Usher, licensee of the hotel, initiated the Grantville coach service. On 12 August 1864 the hotel was the meeting place where local citizens proposed that a market be established in Dandenong. In the early 1870s it was the town’s most substantial hotel.

A two-storey structure, built of bricks, which were made from a clay deposit at the rear of the property, and with a slate roof. The upper floor facade of the building is largely unaltered, except for the removal of the veranda and the conversion of French doors to windows in the early 1900s. Considerable changes were made to the ground floor in the 1930s.

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