From the Richmond Whig, 4/7/1865

MORE HOTELS WANTED. - Improved times, travel and business will now demand more hotel accommodations in Richmond. Before the evacuation, the city could boast of but two - the Spotswood and American. The American was destroyed by the general conflagration, and it cost the proprietors of the Spotswood one hundred thousand dollars to save their hotel. The Spotswood is the only hotel now in operation in Richmond, and there are fine openings for several more in the hands of enterprising business gentlemen of capital and energy. The Ballard and Exchange and the Powhatan, now used as lodging houses, might, with a little repair, be reconverted to their original purposes as hotels. We are glad to learn that there is a prospect of the immediate re-opening of the Ballard by the proprietor and owner, John P. Ballard, Esq.