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Image provided by: State Historical Society of Missouri; Columbia, MO
Newspaper Page Text
ts THE DAILY 3IISS0URIAX, FKIDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 7, 1917. Page Three BIRTH OF HOTEL IDEA First Meeting of Citizens Held Half A Century Ago The Need a Problem Then Fifty years aco. in the fall of 1S67, a number of Columbia citizens met in the old Boone County Courthouse. They were representative men of the town at that time. Their purpose was to discuss a problem which, even in these days, was considered an important one the need of a new hotel. Their chairman was Colonel W. F. Switzler. In the audience was J. L. Stephens, and his son, B. W. Stephens, then a boy. In February, on the night of the twenty-ninth in 1916 In the new Boone County Courthouse, which stands on the same ground on which the old courthouse stood, another meeting to consider the prospects of a new hotel was held. This time, it was not merely a meeting of dis cussions. It was not ended with a hope but rather with a certainty. A new hotel was assured in Columbia and a tonus of $20,000 was sub scribed by many of Columbia's citi zens to a fund to help in the build ing of the new Daniel Boone Tavern, which had been the name chosen for the new hotel. Origin of Its Name a Mystery. An unsolved mystery may go down in the history of the new hotel pro paganda. E. W. Stephens, chairman of the committee of citizens who helped raise the bonus, claims the honor of suggesting the word "tavern" as a part of the official name of the hotel. There was a great deal of discussion on the part of the com mittee. It is said that at first Mr. Stephens' proposal to use the word "tavern" was laughed at but later It was accepted. But who suggested "Daniel Boone" as part of the hotel name apparently will remain a mystery in the history of Columbia. "We just noticed that someone had started it when we saw the name "Daniel Boone Hotel" printed in the newspapers," said one member of the committee recently. Most everyone agrees that it seemed a foregone conclusion from the very beginning of the actual business to call the new hotel after the great pioneer for whom the County of Boone was named. The citizens who subscribed the $20,000 as a bonus for the builders of the hotel were represented by a com mittee of which E. W. Stephens was chairman, and on which were the fol lowing Columbians: Judge J. A. Stewart S. F. Conley, L. M. Defoe, President A. Ross Hill, John N. Tayl or, R. B. Price, Jr.. C. B. Rollins, C. B. Miller and W. W. Payne. It was thought that, with $20,000 invested in the proposition the citizens who had invested should be represented in the building of the tavern and so when on April 15, 191C, the contract for a $100,000 five-story fireproof hotel building was signed with the L. W. Dumas, Jr., Construction Company it was arranged to have all plans and work done approved by the committee. IV. S. Williams Supervises Work. Prof. W. S. Williams of the School of engineering was named by the committee to represent the towns people in supervising the work of the building company and from July 1, 1916, to June 1, 1917, Mr. Williams served. Soon after the bonus money was turned over to the construction company, plans drawn by A. N. Tor bitt of Springfield were approved by the committee, and work on the building was begun. One of the few points of difference among members of the committee was whether or not the hotel should be 70 feet or 100 feet in width. Mr. Stephens, the chairman maintained that it should be built large enough to provide for a futur"e growth and despite some doubt on the part of a few others, finally won out and the plans for a structure 113 feet wide by 88 feet deep were ap proved. Soon after the work of building the new hotel was started, L. W. Dumas, Jr., who had planned the building and had done practically all the work of outlining the contracts, died. The work of completing the structure was taken up by L. W. Dumas, Sr. Boyle Clarke was made president of the Columbia Hotel Company which was formed immediately afterwards and since that time has assisted in the advisory capacity. Built in Eighteen Months. Last Saturday night, eighteen months after the movement to build was discussed, practically the same committee that met and planned the hotel even before work on the ex cavation had begun, met again, this time in the reception room, adjoining the ballroom in the completed new Daniel Boone Tavern. Outside, in the halls, the people of Columbia in spected the work of the hotel company and praised it, while an orchestra in the lobby downstairs played for the crowd which grew bigger as the evening wore on. Instead of spending tho $100,000 required of them the Dumas Construction Company had spent $165,000, and Columbia, from the smallest boy who followed his parents through the corridors to the oldest citizen of Columbia, had only words of congratulation for the town, the hotel management and most of all, for the people who had made the Daniel Boone Tavern a reality. At the conclusion of the banquet which was given in honor of the com mittee on the opening night, E. W. Stephens, as chairman of the towns people's committee gave his de scription of the new $165,000 hotel building as follows: "An examination of the building will demonstrate its practicability. It is fireproof and finely arranged; the dining room is large and ample; the kitchen is so located as to be con' venient to the dining room and the coffee shop. The tavern has a spacious and well lighted lobby and a convenient writing room, all admir ably adapted to their purposes. There is no wasted space in the building The rooms are not large but are ample for transient patronage. "The Mezzanine floor is especially uniquely arranged, but the finest feature is the banque room which simply cannot be surpassed. The new hotel will help make Columbia con tinue to be what it has always been, namely a city of hospitality." HERE'S THE CHEF A PLACE FOR CONTENTIONS New Ballroom Will Help Bring Big Meetings Here, Merchants BelieTe. That the ball room of the new hotel will be a great help to Columbia's Commercial Club in bringing con ventions here is the opinion of many merchants each year but it is thought that this number will undoubtedly be increased when the accomodations of the new Daniel Boone Tavern are known throughout the state. Last year there were press, medical, law and teachers conventions here, in ad dition to Farmers' Week and Journal ism Week, two University activities. The ballroom mey also be used for receptions, banquets and for private dinner parties. C. E. Wallace, new head chef at the Danle Boone Tavern comes from Kansas City where he has been "swing" chef at the Muehlbach Hotel since It opened. "Swing" chef means in the language of hotel people one who plays first "under study" to the main chef, and can al so fit into most any other vacancy that occurs in a big hotel kitchen. Wallace presides 'over the new tavern kitchen, and jsupervises menus for the hotel dining room and the Coffee Shop. His work along these lines has already received considerable praise from the numerous diners at the new hotel. . SWk SHOES OF QUALITY AT REASONABLE PRICES 24 South Ninth Street We Sell Reliable Hardware American Field Fence and Steel Posts Quick Meal Ranges and King Bee Heaters Favorite Hard Coal Base Burn ers B. P. S. and Heath & Milligan Paints Domo and De Laval Cream Separators. 1-2 and 3 Ply Triumph Roof ing and Slatekote Shingles. Goodyear and Goodrich Tires and Tubes Shotguns,. Rifles, Ammunition Cattaraugus Pocket Cuttlery and Claw Scissors MNWADIiEW oarawsiina uoi &WZg-wr7 Phonel47 FOURTEEN YEARS OF PROGRESS In December 1903 this company opened for business, so not quite fourteen years old, and by clean and progressive policies, and good service, we have built up a strong finan cial institution, having at this time Capital and Undivided Profits of over $245,000. 00. In our Banking Department we receive deposits from SI. 00 up and give the same care- ful attention to-the small accounts, as is given to the larger ones. We pay interest on Time Deposits. In our Trust Department, we act as Administrator-Executor Trustee. We make Real Estate Loans, and we sell Real Estate Loans to our patrons desiring such service. If you are interested as a borrower, investor, depositor or as to appointment of Execu tor, Trustee, Curator, we invite you to call. Our officers will take pleasure in dis cussing with you any such matter in which you may be interested. Boone County Trust Company Resources $900,000.00 ir ti -" n