The
National Historic Landmark Program's "Statement of Significance", as of the site's historic landmark designation in 1986, said: The resort is located on the shore of
Lake Mohonk, which is half a mile (800 m) long and deep. The main structure was built by
Quaker twin brothers Albert and Alfred Smiley between 1869 and 1910. From 1883 to 1916, annual conferences took place at Mohonk Mountain House, sponsored by Albert Smiley, to improve the living standards of
Native American Indian populations. The meetings brought together government representatives of the
Bureau of Indian Affairs and the House and Senate committees on Indian Affairs, as well as educators, philanthropists, and Indian leaders to discuss the formulation of policy. The
Haverford College library in
Haverford, Pennsylvania holds 22,000 records from the 34 conference reports for researchers and students of American history. The hotel hosted the
Lake Mohonk Conference on International Arbitration between 1895 and 1916, which was instrumental in creating the
Permanent Court of Arbitration in
The Hague, Netherlands. Those conference papers were donated by the Smiley Family to
Swarthmore College for research. The resort was sued in 2014 by 200 guests who had become ill in a
norovirus outbreak after staying there. They claimed that the owners had been aware of the
gastrointestinal illness at the resort prior to the guests' arrival. The resort settled the claims for $875,000 two years later. ==Description==