Amundson: Welcome to the Hotel Kegonsa | Columns

It was a lazy February afternoon and I was laying low at the Stoughton library doing my best to avoid responsibilities at home.

While browsing through their voluminous Kvamme Vertical Files I came upon a folder labeled “Hotel Kegonsa-101 West Main Street.” For the next three hours (with the exception of two bathroom breaks and 10 minutes of doom-scrolling on my phone) I was consumed by stories detailing the history of Stoughton’s oldest and best-known Inn.

Here’s what I learned.

The initial structure was built in 1855 by Alvin West, who at the unrelenting urging of Luke Stoughton was induced to come to…