Our Past Is Present August 24, 2018

August 24, 2018

            This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.

            During its years of operation the Bartell dining room was a meeting place for local business people and many organizations like the Lion’s Club, the Rotary Club as well as Fort Riley’s commanders.  In the 1940s the hotel was purchased by Frank and Margaret Lloyd, who had managed the property since 1939.  The Lloyds sold the aging hotel to the Lamer Hotel chain in 1948 and it operated under that name until it was purchased at auction by Roy and Sheila Fausnett in the late 1970s.  In 1980 it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the Fausnetts, who had plans for renovation. 

            After a ten year battle waged by local preservationists to save the decaying structure, the Bartell was acquired by Tom Bishop and Homestead Affordable Housing and restoration finally got underway in 2006.  In the spring of 2007, the Washington Street Grill and Pub opened in the Sixth Street side of the building and on November 10, 2007 the rehabilitated and restored hotel floors were officially opened as a senior residence facility.

            Some of the famous people who stayed at the Bartell included: P.T. Barnum, John Phillip Sousa and his band, W.C. Fields, Ann Sheridan, Al Jolson, Lana Turner, Mickey Rooney, Gene Tierney and her husband the fashion designer, Oleg Cassini.  “Buffalo Bill” Cody and his famed sharp shooter Annie Oakley were billeted at the hotel twice in the early 1900’s.  Army Generals George Patton and John “Black Jack” Pershing, Leonard Wood Jonathan Wainwright, Dwight D. Eisenhower and countless others have all dined in the dining room of the Bartell House at the corner of Sixth and Washington Streets in Junction City.  And.. that’s today’s story on “Our Past Is Present from the Geary County Historical Society.