May 11, 2017
This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.
In the next
two programs we will be sharing information about some more historic buildings
in downtown Junction City. The
information is from a free pamphlet which you can get at our Museum titled “A
Walking Tour”. 41 buildings are
highlighted in this pamphlet for you and others to read and reflect on as while
visiting our downtown businesses.
Today we
will look at two more historic buildings. The first is the Rialto Building which is
at 607 North Washington St. If you look
at the top of the building you can still see the word “Rialto”. This building was constructed in 1897 to
house the Rialto Restaurant. By 1908,
Mike Frey had a restaurant in this location.
In 1919 eight brothers named Maduros came to Junction City and opened
the well-known Good Eats Café, which lasted until 1977. The façade was restored during the Washington
Street restoration of 1999. The space is
where Bella’s Italian Restaurant is currently located.
The next
building is across the street from the Rialto and is the Bartell House, which
is located on the northwest corner of Washington and Sixth Streets. It was opened in 1880, by A.H. Bartell and
John K. Wright. The Bartell House Hotel
replaced the Hale House, which had burned in 1875. There were 66 rooms, parlors, offices, street
level shops, a kitchen and a dining room with murals painted by Junction City
artist Bertrand Harman. The Junction
City Post Office was located in the southwest corner of the building between
1888 and 1917. Among the famous guests
of the hotel were General Funston, General Wainwright, Sally Rand, Ann
Sheridan, Gene Tierney, Al Jolson, John Phillip Sousa, W.C. Fields and Gloria
Vanderbilt. When it closed as the Lamer Hotel in 1979, it was the last
operating hotel in the city. It has been
restored and remodeled into a senior apartments, retail office space and at one
time housed Kite’s Bar and Grille.
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