Without warning and little follow up by the media , the Criterion Hotel, on the Townsville waterfront heritage walk , recently closed its doors . The original hotel on the site , Townsville's first, was a log hut constructed in 1865 for William Ross after whom nearby Ross River and Ross Creek are named . He introduced the first barmaids, marrying one. In 1869 the popular hotel was replaced with a two storey timber building ; badly damaged by Cyclone Leonta in 1903 , the new owner , S. Murdoch , engaged local architects to design a new brick hotel in the Federation style, which opened in 1904.
Still closed is the 1900 built Great Northern Hotel, damaged by an arsonist ,with a banner saying it hopes to reopen in the near future . There has been an unclear , small report suggesting several other Townsville hotels have changed hands .
