Grove Hotel Then and Now

107 N Second Avenue

Usually, I choose to write about buildings when I stumble across old photos and wonder about their histories. In this case, I began researching an old hotel building and spent months trying to locate a photo to prove it existed.

Once upon a time, a small creek crossed Second Avenue between Maple and Pine Streets. The 1884 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows an empty lot directly south of this creek on the west side of Second Avenue.

It is believed that brothers James and William Weeks of Kinsley built four adjoining wood frame buildings on those lots south of the creek around 1885. The brothers were in the cattle business and built a successful lumber yard south of the railroad tracks.

B. Harris & Co. from Warrensburg, Missouri opened a hide business in the northernmost building in January of 1886.

N. G. Healy & Co. bought the hide business in May of 1887, at which time Harris relocated to St. Louis. The 1887 Sanborn shows a row of wood frame structures from 208-211 2nd Avenue with only the hide house occupied. By 1892, all but the south part of the building was used for grain storage.

It is said that John Ridenour had the two south buildings dismantled and transported to his place northwest of town, where he used the lumber to construct a home. The 1899 Sanborn shows only the two north sections at 210-211 Second Avenue remained, which were being used as a boarding house.

Albert and Laura Fasig bought the boarding house and opened the Grove Hotel in May of 1902.

The 1905 Sanborn shows the creek and bridge had disappeared. It is unclear why but I did find stories about wells drilled into the underflow which fed it, and that water could have simply been used up.

Albert Fasig died in January of 1910 and Laura advertised the 21-room Grove Hotel for sale that September. A couple of deals fell through and Robert and Zella Covalt of Emporia assumed operations by May of 1911. By this time, the block had been renumbered and the address was 107 Second Avenue.

The Covalts apparently had some miscommunications because Robert was arrested the following month after being accused of forging his wife’s name on a mortgage.

There were a lot of comings and goings. Zella divorced Robert, who had problems with alcohol, but it appears she still managed the hotel off and on even after putting it up for sale in July of 1914. Zella said she wanted to leave the area due to her health but the Grove remained on the market for quite some time.

In the meantime, Dodge City attempted to clean up its appearance. A “bullet scarred” sidewalk in front of the Grove was ordered removed in December of 1914. In reality, the holes in the iron sidewalk were from rivets rather than bullets. The metal had been repurposed from an old standpipe.

W. H. Hampton (Bud’s father) bought the Grove Hotel in May of 1915 with plans for a complete renovation.

This photo is a somewhat grainy copy of the original. It appears someone attempted to enhance the lettering above the entrance of the hotel.

The end of the Grove Hotel came in September of 1926 when the uninsured building was severely damaged in a fire.

From that point on, the building was once again used for a variety of commercial businesses including the South Side Barber Shop.

The 1932 Sanborn shows a new rail siding had been installed across Second Avenue where the creek had once been.

The old hotel was home to a couple pool halls in the late 1930s and early ’40s. By 1947, it was occupied by Diehl’s Shoe Service and Coltran’s Upholstering. Clifford Coltran planned to restore some of the rooms in May of 1947 to celebrate Dodge City’s Diamond Jubilee. It is unclear whether his plans materialized.

By 1953, Behee Mattress Company occupied the south part of the building. They were joined by Joe Gaut, owner of Gooch’s Shoe Shop by 1955. Gaut was the last tenant and the building was completely vacant after the flood of 1965. It was finally demolished in the 1970s.

This is how the former hotel site looks today:

The next time you’re driving south on Second Avenue, imagine how it looked before the flood completely altered the landscape.

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