Caldwell County MO Archives History .....OLD HARRY HOUSE IN HAMILTON 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Karen Walker khw4@yahoo.com September 4, 2008, 6:00 pm

THE OLD HARRY HOUSE IN HAMILTON
	Narrator:  Mrs. Minnie Harry

     Mrs. Minnie Harry was the wife of Joe Harry, son of Mrs. Harry, the owner 
of this fine hotel of the 70s and 80s.
     The Harry House was built 1869 by Mrs. Brockway on the southwest corner 
of the first block south of the railroad west side of Broadway, corner of Mill 
and Broadway, as old timers called the street but Ardinger and Berry, more 
correctly speaking.  It was called the Broadway Hotel and was sold 1873 to 
L.D. Van Volkenburg who ran it for about 3 years.  It was a three story hotel, 
with office opening on the west, and the ladies entrance on the south.  It was 
a popular place for people to stay who were farm hunting.  When Mrs. Harry 
took it, she changed its name to Harry House and it was a very high grade 
hotel as long as she had it.  In the late 80s, she sold it to Mr. Franke who 
had the other hotel in town on the north side.  It began to run down, finally 
it became a place for miners and cheap people to stay.  At one time, it was 
raided by Mayor Tinsley Brown because he thought it was used for immoral 
purposes.
     During Mrs. Harrys stay, she removed the huge cupola which originally 
stood in the middle of the roof, which gave a view as far as Kidder.  (Cupolas 
were good style in the early 70s.)  Orrick Martin was her clerk, and rang the 
triangle out in front of the office twice before each meal, one time half an 
hour before meal, to bring in the boarders.  The neighbors used to set their 
clocks by the triangle.
     Mrs. Harry is remembered in her later years as a very refined stocratic 
old lady with a cap trimmed with lavender ribbons.
     The plan of the hotel was:  a large office at the S.W. corner, a sample 
room to the west, an outside stairway on the north of the building leading to 
the millinery store of Mrs. Platter (daughter of Mrs. Harry) on the second 
floor of the hotel.  East of the office was a big hall and an impressive 
stairway.  Back of it was a very large dining room and Mrs. Harry's private 
rooms and the kitchen.  There was an inner court where the servants worked 
outdoors out of sight.  The well was there too.
     The Presbyterians often held their festivals and oyster suppers at the 
dining room; Mrs. Harry belonged to the Christian church, but her daughter, 
Mrs. Platter, was a Presbyterian.
     Mrs. Harry always employed colored help, and some of the best darkies in 
town worked in that hotel.  Aunt Jane Bell and her children were some.  On the 
south entrance, was a large wood platform where the lady boarders used to sit 
out after supper.  Mrs. Harry always went in the best society in Hamilton, 
being a fine friend of Mrs. O'Neil and Mrs. Robert Ogden, both names meaning 
high class here in the 70s and 80s.
     It was about 1905 that the hotel building was torn down, it had been 
diminished by one story some time earlier.  It had been on fire once or twice 
in its decline and the town was glad when it finally was gone.  It was on the 
site of the Davis Motor store.
     Some one has said that we must not omit to state that all hotels of that 
time had runners who went to the train after customers, and at times these 
porters or "runners" might get into a fight with runners from other hotels 
over customers.  They carried baggage without tips to the hotels.
     Interview  1934.


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