Peter Arena, proprietor of the Union Hotel of Whitefish, is an excellent example of what can be accomplished by one of foreign birth under the beneficent influences afforded by the United States, the most generous of countries to its adopted sons. Mr. Arena was born on the Island of Sicily, Italy, a son of Frank and Gratia Arena. In 1886, when he was twenty-three years old, Peter Arena came to the United States, and in 1888 located in the State of Washington, where he was engaged in a hotel business. Coming to Flathead County in 1890, he opened a bakery, continuing in that line of business for sixteen years, but in 1904 came to Whitefish and established his present hotel, which has become a popular one.
Before leaving his native land Mr. Arena was married, but his wife died after bearing him two sons and one daughter, namely: Frank, Orazio and Concetta. His sons were killed in an earthquake, but his daughter survived and was married and is now living on the Island of Sicily. During the great earthquake in Sicily, when so many of the inhabitants were killed or injued and property was destryoed, Frank was killed outright and Orazio so injured that he died afterward from the effects, leaving two children, Peter and Mary.
Having achieved a fair measure of prosperity, Mr. Arena now desires to bring his orphaned grandchildren to live with him and grow up amid American surroundings and be educated in the excellent schools here. If he is granted the passport for which he has applied he proposes returning to Sicily and after a visit among his old friends to come back here and bring little Peter and Mary with him.
Mr. Arena's prosperity has not come to him without hard, unremitting work and strict economy. For years he labored, scarcely taking time for needful rest, but now that he has some leisure he feels that he wants to share his good fortune with those of his own flesh and blood. The people of Whitefish appreciate his good points and his entire reliability and have patronized his hotel in the past and will continue to do so in the future, for it renders excellent service at a fair price. Men like Mr. Arena are desirable additions to any community, for they set an example of industry and close application to business that is well worth following.
From: Montana, its story and biography: a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana, by Stout, Tom. Published 1921.
