The land included a two-story adobe building that formerly belonged to Jose Maria Amador.

[2] Dougherty built a hotel near the adobe and at the crossroads of two important local roads.

One road went north–south and connected communities from Martinez south to Mission San Jose.

The other road went east–west and connected the San Francisco Bay area with communities such as Livermore, Stockton and the California Central Valley.

It was designed to take advantage of an extension of the Southern Pacific Railroad connecting from San Ramon to Pleasanton in the early 1900s.