As we walk down Central Street it is hard to visualize "plank buildings" and "board side walks" in the place of the brick buildings and concrete walks. These things we take for granted and caually notice the walks or streets. Probley if we bounced long on board walks and mud splattered roads every time we crossed the street we would appreciate the progress Harlan has made.

For instance, almost seventy years ago the hotel shown here was built in Harlan where the Bank of Harlan is today. There were no paved streets or sidewalks. Across the street was the Court House and the rail fence which served as a hitching post. In the year of 1885 the hotel was built by S.C.Howard. The 2-room structure was one of the first buildings in the new part of town. The "Plank building" was put up before the first brick court house.

Two Hotel Entrances

There were two entrances in the hotel: one on Central Street and one on First Street. The furniture in the large, spacey rooms consisted of a bed, chairs and wash stand that held a large wash bowl and a pitcher for water. Some of the rooms had a bureau and sometimes you might find a flowered spitoon in the corner.

There was a fireplace in each room. The meals were cooked on a big eight cap step stove,"in the dining room and food was placed on a long taable. Pie and cakes(have to put more in here))

In the summer time a typical fan was made from strips of paper fastened to a stick for the purpose of keeping the flies from the food while the boarders ate.Meals were a quater and since there were no restaurants in town, the hotel business was booming

Drummers' Sample Room

In one part of the hotel a "sample room" was made specially for "drummers." The traveling men brought their sample merchandise over the mountains in wagons for the few pioneer merchants of Harlan to choose from>

There were no models to display their wares so they had to be content to open their large heavy trunks and arrange their samples on tables and boxes. Each merchant in Harlan usually bought a "bill of goods."

The old hotel was operated by many Harlanities. Henry shell, Jim Nolan, John Hurst all tried their hand in the business. In later years Boyd Kelly leased the building and later John B. Lewis and John Blair ran the hotel.

George Green built a store on the Green Miller corner and was in business there for many years. This newer part of town was mostly vacant land. Behind the hotel was a large barn. A hotel was never complete without a barn. Peddlers and visitors had to have a place for their horses when they came to town.

Plot Sold For Hotel

Later years the plot of ground was sold for the First State Bank building and the hotel had to be moved away. The owner cut off part fo the building and moved the rest on rollers down the street drawn by oxen.

Spectators remember some small boys riding in the house while it was being moved and the laughter and amusement it afforded. It was moved to South Cumberland Avenue where a part of it stands today

Will Noe had a boarding house at that time near the Margie Grand Theatre. It stood for many years, as did the riverside hotel on Main Street where the Alex Department Store is today.

The hotel business flourished and was always a 'gathering place" for the people of Harlan.

Sunday November 30, 1952

Volume 51 number 281

Pages 1 & 5