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MARTIN HOTEL
The Martin Hotel is significant as a hotel operated on this site from 1853
to 1972, 119 years, by the same family. The long frame building built in
1877 and a brick 1884 addition remain nearly unchanged and contain many of
the original furnishings, as well as guest registers, pictures, and documents.
It has hosted hundreds of Civil War soldiers, stage coach travelers and people
from around the world. P.T. Barnum, Jesse James, Cole Younger, and Harry
S. Truman 1 and his family were among its guests.
Osage Indians still lived in Morgan County when it was organized in 1833. Wyan
and Galbraith, pioneers, donated 36 blocks of land, each 170 feet square,
and platted the City of Versailles i n 1835. It was incorporated as a village
in 1866. In 1881, in an election in which the total vote was 72, Versailles
became a fourth class city. 2
On November 1, 1853, Samuel and Elizabeth Martin and their four children
arrived in Versailles in the remnants of an oxen caravan from Patrick
County, Virginia. One child had died on the way, as well as one of Mr.
Martin's brothers. At that time Versailles was a public square with a
courthouse in the center, a few saloons, several stores, and a few scattered
houses. 3
The second day the Martins were in Versailles a woman offered to rent them
a small rooming house for $100 a year, the only stipulation being that they
must retain a Negro servant who had been with her many years. A year later
they bought the entire block of land for its taxes and moved a log structure
to the present hotel site. 4
The Civil War in Versailles put business at a standstill. Families and
friends were divided in their loyalties, as Versailles was a border area.
One legend surrounding the hotel during these times concerned Mr. Martin
and his crippled daughter Sally. Samuel Martin had been accused of aiding
the enemy and had been ordered to be shot. The Union soldiers had Mr.
Martin just outside the hotel in ti<e street and were taking him to the Court
House Square a block away for the execution. Sally heard the soldiers and
hobbled out on her crutches to her father and took hold of his hand. The
Captain looked at her a minute and told her to go back in the hotel and take
her father with her. He said that the little girl needed him a whole lot
more than the North did. 5
Still another tale relates a Civil War incident involving two young Confederate soldiers whom the Martins knew who came to the hotel seeking refuge. In spite of their fear, the Martins let the boys stay the night. Early the next morning Mrs. Martin heard the spurs of a dozen Yankee soldiers clanking on the floor. She hid one boy in a closet behind some clothes and had the other one dress as a hotel waitress, then went down to cook breakfast for the soldiers. The morning's search for the rebels was fruitless, and they stayed for dinner. When their hunger was satisfied by the free meal, they left, unaware that they had been served by the southern masquerader. In 1877, the frame Martin Hotel building was erected. An early photograph (photograph #1} suggests that the original log building adjoined the new frame one and may have continued to be used until being dismantled to make way for the brick building. The photograph appears to have been taken during this dismantling. Guest rooms were on the second floor of the hotel, and there was a covered porch running across the front facade that was enclosed by a railing to form a secondstory veranda where guests sat in warm weather. A third floor was used as sleeping quarters for the female help. Guests arrived by private horsedrawn vehicles and by the Jefferson City-Springfield stagecoach line which came through Versailles. The hotel ran a stage coach connecting with the Missouri Pacific Railroad at Tipton. The Mactins also operated a livery barn, where the guests' horses were fed and housed.' Traveling salesmen called drummers made the Martin Hotel their headquarters. These drummers often hired buggies and went out in the country to sell their products; the hotel also provided a "sales room" and furnished it with drummers' tables. Merchandise was spread on the tables and local merchants came there to purchase goods for their stores. One of these tables is on display in the hotel lobby, now a museum. Rates at the hotel were 254 for a double bed, some with a straw-tick mattresses and some with featherbeds. Three meals and lodging was $1.00 per day. Each room was furnished with a bed, bureau, wardrobe for clothes, wash stand with bowl and water pitcher, and a chamber pot or commode. A dug well, still at the rear of the building, furnished water for cooking, drinking, laundry, and for the pitchers in the guest rooms. Each guest room also had a wood stove and a heavy rope fastened to the floor to throw out the window and use to escape in case of fire. Some of the ropes are still in place. In the early days Mr. Samuel Martin did all the cooking and served the food family style. Venison was plentiful, and deer steaks were a staple. They had fruit trees and a vegetable garden, butchered their own hogs and raised chickens. (A chicken catcher from the hotel is on display in the museum). Milk, butter, and cream was home produced. Sometimes Mr. Martin drove to the woods and brought back wild turkey or prairie chicken. Mrs. Martin picked blackberries in her "off hours" after the kitchen work was done. She served pie and hot bread three times a day. Court week was always a big event and meant crowds of people and days of preparation ahead of time. Mrs. Martin mixed up a barrel of bread dough and made hundreds of berry and custard pies
https://mostateparks.com/sites/mostateparks/files/Martin%20Hotel.pdf
Still another tale relates a Civil War incident involving two young Confederate soldiers whom the Martins knew who came to the hotel seeking refuge. In spite of their fear, the Martins let the boys stay the night. Early the next morning Mrs. Martin heard the spurs of a dozen Yankee soldiers clanking on the floor. She hid one boy in a closet behind some clothes and had the other one dress as a hotel waitress, then went down to cook breakfast for the soldiers. The morning's search for the rebels was fruitless, and they stayed for dinner. When their hunger was satisfied by the free meal, they left, unaware that they had been served by the southern masquerader. In 1877, the frame Martin Hotel building was erected. An early photograph (photograph #1} suggests that the original log building adjoined the new frame one and may have continued to be used until being dismantled to make way for the brick building. The photograph appears to have been taken during this dismantling. Guest rooms were on the second floor of the hotel, and there was a covered porch running across the front facade that was enclosed by a railing to form a secondstory veranda where guests sat in warm weather. A third floor was used as sleeping quarters for the female help. Guests arrived by private horsedrawn vehicles and by the Jefferson City-Springfield stagecoach line which came through Versailles. The hotel ran a stage coach connecting with the Missouri Pacific Railroad at Tipton. The Mactins also operated a livery barn, where the guests' horses were fed and housed.' Traveling salesmen called drummers made the Martin Hotel their headquarters. These drummers often hired buggies and went out in the country to sell their products; the hotel also provided a "sales room" and furnished it with drummers' tables. Merchandise was spread on the tables and local merchants came there to purchase goods for their stores. One of these tables is on display in the hotel lobby, now a museum. Rates at the hotel were 254 for a double bed, some with a straw-tick mattresses and some with featherbeds. Three meals and lodging was $1.00 per day. Each room was furnished with a bed, bureau, wardrobe for clothes, wash stand with bowl and water pitcher, and a chamber pot or commode. A dug well, still at the rear of the building, furnished water for cooking, drinking, laundry, and for the pitchers in the guest rooms. Each guest room also had a wood stove and a heavy rope fastened to the floor to throw out the window and use to escape in case of fire. Some of the ropes are still in place. In the early days Mr. Samuel Martin did all the cooking and served the food family style. Venison was plentiful, and deer steaks were a staple. They had fruit trees and a vegetable garden, butchered their own hogs and raised chickens. (A chicken catcher from the hotel is on display in the museum). Milk, butter, and cream was home produced. Sometimes Mr. Martin drove to the woods and brought back wild turkey or prairie chicken. Mrs. Martin picked blackberries in her "off hours" after the kitchen work was done. She served pie and hot bread three times a day. Court week was always a big event and meant crowds of people and days of preparation ahead of time. Mrs. Martin mixed up a barrel of bread dough and made hundreds of berry and custard pies
https://mostateparks.com/sites/mostateparks/files/Martin%20Hotel.pdf
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