At 05:02 PM 01/11/2004 -0500, Nancy wrote: >>From Historic Hampshire, (1976) edited by Seldon Brannon, pp. 249-50 > >The Keller House > >"In 1848, Thomas A. Keller purchased from the Armstrong family the old >tavern building on Lot 86 (east corner of Grafton and Main Street), which >even then had served as an inn. The building was probably erected shortly >after 1800. On May 22, 1848, a license was issued to Thomas A. Keller and >James Poland to conduct an "ordinary," an inn. Thus was established the >Keller House which continued in use until 1913...The Keller House was >finally torn down in 1913, and the New Century Hotel was built on its site >the next year." > >New Century Hotel > >"In 1914, the New Century Hotel, financed by a group of businessmen, was >built on the site of the old Keller House. It was a beautiful three story >red brick structure of American Colonial design fronted by a tall-pillared >double porch. From the beginning, the New Century was a popular lodging >place. During the 1930's, under the management of Mrs. Clara Siple, people >came long distances to enjoy the hotel's excellent food and cordial >atmosphere. Mrs. Eleanor roosevelt was one of its many illustrious guests. >Suffering the fate of many other small-town hotels, the New Century was >forced to close its doors and was recently torn down" [Recently would >related to the 1976 publication date of the book). > >On page 247 of this book there is a picture of a Romney street scebe looking >east. This shows the Parker Hotel in the foreground (which would be the >south side of Main Street and west of the Court House). No mention in this >book or anything else I have of "Romney Hotel," but the reference "Genie" >cited suggests and establishment by that name existed. > >Thanks to all who tried to help. > >Nancy Nancy, I'm coming to this late, since I've been too ill to log on, but ... In Historic Hampshire, please see pp 489, where Bob Newhouse mentions the Romney Hotel, later called the Colonial Hotel and in 1976 owned by the Moose; [this would be the east third of the block which now houses the public library and Davis History House; but when Jane and I were growing up, what was on that block west to east was The Misses Davis house, their garden, a two-story house*, and a retail store, variously Coffman-Fisher, H-P, & Western Auto; the latter was a single-story biulding but it did have a porch]. I do not remember seeing any reference to either of those hotel names in any of the newspapers I extracted -- which may mean they weren't mentioned, I didn't notice it, I just don't remember it -- or theoretically, that they opened after 1906 when I quit extracting. *I seem to remember that house as being covered in brownish asphalt siding in the brick pattern. A door on the left and two small windows on the right? less than a foot of dirt, between the building and the sidewalk, in which the lady grew larkspurs that my GM envied because they were tall and sturdy -- went half-way up the window. (g) You mention the photo on pg 247 -- note that the reference to the state school would indicate that the Parker Hotel was in business after 1870 when the school opened. I don't remember seeing it mentioned in newspaper articles, but then, the name would have been familiar enough to me that I might not have registered it and I did not index place names. Also, The Romney Hotel would have been facing the Parker Hotel and should be visible in the photo if it were in business. These are postcards, after all, and if the establishment is in the photo, they'll carry and sell the postcards. According to the 1930 census images at HeritageQuestOnline, Millard and Edna had no children in their home in 1930; they owned the house and valued it at $3000. The house looks to be in the vicinity of Rosemary @ Goldsborough, probably on the South side before Goldsborough, but since there were no house numbers in Romney in 1930, it's hard to tell. Same source (ibid) shows any number of people saying they work at a hotel without naming the hotel. I found the New Century easily enough because it had a long list of boarders, family, and servants -- Charles Taylor, Prop., and in his household is a teen-aged neice, Clara Siple. Finding another hotel proprietor took a while because it was very short entry, but finally , two doors from Miss Kate's was Austin J. Miller, prop., Hotel; no spouse, no guests, one or two servants, but it says he rents for $135/month. There were several places that had boarders, but the occupation of the HoH wasn't informative. This help any at all? Cheryl