Located in downtown Green Bay, the Hotel Northland played an important role in the early twentieth century social and commercial development of the city. Completed in 1924, the hotel was one of the largest and most important buildings constructed in Green Bay prior to the end of World War II and reflected the city's growth.

On the night of Friday, March 21, 1924, the Hotel Northland celebrated its opening by hosting an inaugural ball for hundreds of Green Bay citizens and trainloads of out-of-town visitors. The Green Bay Press-Gazette covered the opening of the new hotel as a major civic event, filling the front pages of its dailies with stories praising the new hotel.

Designed by prominent Milwaukee architect Herbert W. Tullgren, the Northland joined the growing chain of Wisconsin hotels built by Walter Schroeder, a Milwaukee hotelier whose collection of hotels would become the largest in the state. The Hotel Northland not only reflected the look and appeal of some of Schroeder's other hotels, but also incorporated many significant elements of the new efficiently-designed, elegant, and affordable urban commercial hotel.

For over fifty years after its construction, the Hotel Northland served as Green Bay's largest and finest hotel and hosted several prominent dignitaries on their visits to the city. As the city's largest hostelry, the hotel also witnessed the rise in popularity of the Green Bay Packers football team and played a major role in events surrounding the development of Green Bay's popular football culture. The Hotel Northland hosted a National Football League (NFL) conference in 1927 and served as NFL headquarters during three Green Bay-hosted championships in 1961, 1965, and 1967. In 1959, it was the setting of one of famed Packers head coach Vince Lombardi's earliest press conferences. The Hotel Northland served temporarily as the home of Curly Lambeau and several Packers players.

With its prominent downtown setting, its tall and monolithic urban scale, Tudor Revival Style exterior, major interior public spaces, and its importance both as a hotel and a local social center, Green Bay’s Hotel Northland remains an excellent example of an urban commercial hotel.