Chestnut timber used for framing, certain trim, siding and floor covering, was also obtained from local park lands and milled on site.

The 1915 cellar contained an electric lighting plant that was also planned to furnish power for an escalator from the excursion boat landing on the Hudson River to the plateau on which the inn stands.

Between the 1930s and 1980s changes to the floor plan were made and some historic details and decorative motifs were concealed or lost, and much of the original rustic furniture was removed.

Also during this period, entertainment headliners included Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, and some believe[weasel words] Kate Smith wrote her 1931 theme song "When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain" while at the inn.

Madame Chiang Kai-shek spent two weeks in seclusion at one of the outlying lodges of the Bear Mountain Inn in the spring of 1943, meeting with Wendell L. Willkie there on April 25 before proceeding to the White House for a brief stay.

[6] Following the outbreak of World War II, the park commission gave up direct management of the hotel and it was offered as a concession.

[10] A $12 million renovation by H3 HardyCorp, to restore the inn's "original rustic splendor", announced by the park commission in 2005, would require closing the building to the public for 18 months.

In April 2009, a comparatively detailed report in a local Orange County media outlet put costs at $15 million, indicating work had been ongoing.