Snapshots of History by Mike Avitt

By Editor | August 19, 2026 |

David Pugh took this week’s photo in the early 1990s. David took many pictures of Mount Ayr’s business district in the 1990s and he loaned them to me in 2005. I was to keep the duplicates and copy the single photos, which I did. He passed away in 2006.
The hotel was closed in 1985 which prompted Audrey Richey Hague to write a letter to the Mount Ayr Record-News. Her letter appeared in the October 3 edition and gives us a detailed look at service in the hotel from an employees’ perspective. Audrey was related to Nancy Thompson who supplied last week’s photo. Let’s see what Audrey wrote.
Audrey worked the dining room from 1927 to 1929. A Mrs. Wyant was the cook, Mrs. Glendenning was the housekeeper and Frank Ferquer was the night clerk. Remember, there was no elevator, no air-conditioning and no commercial washing machine. Tablecloths were just that; cloth. They had to be washed and dried. Each floor (two floors) had a community bathroom while each guest room had a lavatory.
Meals were available to guests and non-guests alike. Meats consisted of beef or pork, the guest had their choice, and the rest of the meal was up to the hotel. Vegetable beef soup was available in the winter. The guests paid one price for each meal and there were set hours for meals. Sunday featured fried chicken dinners. The hotel had many regulars and Mrs. Wyant was famous for her fluffy biscuits.
Audrey says there was a small number of permanent guests, but mostly the hotel occupants were made up of traveling salesmen.
Saturdays were the quietest day as salesmen went home and farmers were conducting business uptown. The regulars might spend the afternoon playing cards or listening to the radio. There were times when a group would come and stay, such as Bell Telephone employees when the new office was built and new wires were strung.
George and Belle Bartow were the hands-on owners and were greatly respected by the staff. Mr. Bartow played the fiddle for guests and staff alike. George Bartow suffered a stroke in 1929 and the Bartows sold the hotel to Mr. and Mrs. Art Holland. The Hollands soon installed some interior furnishings that were salvaged from the old courthouse.
Audrey was a high school student during these years and she recounted her shock when she first witnessed a woman smoking in public. Also, the strange and interesting guests that stayed when Chautauqua came to town. Thanks, Audrey.
In 1946, Mr. and Mrs. Art Holland sold the hotel to Mr. and Mrs. Paul Evans. Tragedy struck on August 6, 1951 when daughter Pamela Evans fell through a second-story screened window onto the concrete sidewalk below. She spent six weeks at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines but eventually returned to school.
Mabel McCullough Rice and her son Gary McCullough bought the hotel in March 1955. The pair already owned the Clinton Motel in Mount Ayr. Mrs. Myron Horn assumed her duties as manager of the hotel. In 1956 Marie Todd took over as manager. Vena Arnold became manager in October 1959.
In June 1968, Mr. and Mrs. Carl Hullinger became the hotel manager and Vic Thompson and his wife came in sometime later. The Thompsons stayed until 1983 when Mr. and Mrs. Brian Soland took over as managers on August 1, 1983. The hotel was closed in September 1985 and torn down in December 1993 by TEK Builders.
I have not yet found when the apartments were built onto the north side, but I’m sure it was soon after Mabel and Gary became the owners in 1955. I have heard a rumor that the guest register was removed from the hotel in the years prior to the hotel being demolished, but have seen no proof. I would love to see that register.

Posted in Snapshot of History by Mike Avitt