Part 1 of 2
The building is over 100 years old. It has not only stood the test of time but has evolved into something special that is both modern and still respects the building’s history. The Cornerstone Apartments, situated at the corner of Main Street and 1st Ave NE in Clarion, are looking better than ever. However, to appreciate the building as it is now, one must delve in to its rich past.
Long before it was the Cornerstone Apartments, the large building across from the Wright County Courthouse was the Moore Hotel. Notably, that was not the first hotel on that site. A Monitor story from 1965, reflecting back on the building’s history noted, “In 1869, things began to boom in the new town of Clarion. There wasn't a place in town for boarding or lodging, so the supervisors offered a quarter section of land adjoining Clarion on the northeast and they threw in the whole block of ground north of the present courthouse to anyone who would construct a hotel. Duane C. Young took the board of supervisors up on the offer and in 1871 the building was finished. It was dedicated and christened ‘The Clarion House.’”
Over the next forty plus years, the hotel changed hands various times until the mid-1910s when J.M. Moore, described as a “hotel man” took it over. Because the Clarion House was rather old by this time and in disrepair it seems, Moore decided to build a new hotel on the site, which was aptly called the Moore Hotel.
A Monitor article from late 1915 described the plans for the new magnificent hotel: “The new structure will be 66 wide by 115 feet long. The second and third floors will contain forty guest rooms, parlor, four private baths, two living rooms for the proprietor and three for the help. Barber shop, sample rooms and toilets in the basement. It will be modern and up-to-date in every particular.” A county history book added that the hotel was constructed and furnished at a cost of $50,000. It opened in 1916.
From the time it opened, the hotel seems to have been a bustling place. Clarionite Dennis Bowman recalls visiting the Moore Hotel often in the 1950s. His grandfather, Albert “Dutch” Tucker actually lived in the hotel for over a decade and a half. Bowman explained that Dutch was an engineer for the Chicago Great Western Railroad. Back then, he said that it was common for travelers to get off the train near present-day Hardees and walk up to the Moore Hotel to stay overnight. Bowman added, that in addition to his grandpa, many men, several of which worked for the railroad, had long-term rentals at the hotel.
Bowman remembers the layout of the Moore. “When you came in the door, you were in the big lobby with the front desk to the north.” He added that there was big oak furniture in the lobby and plenty of visiting happened there.
In addition to guest rooms, the building housed various businesses. Throughout the early years, the hotel building included various jewelry sellers, hardware stores, and space where traveling salesmen and purveyors of cures could set up shop. Bowman recalls a barber shop there that specialized in flat top haircuts with initials shaved in!
Many restaurants, cafes, and bars also made their way through the building over the years. In the early 40s, the Monitor featured ads for waitresses and counter girls for the Moore Hotel Coffee Shoppe. In 1949, a Clarion mainstay, Gannon’s Coffee Shop, opened in the hotel building. Later, there was the Cornerstone Restaurant and Lounge that boasted the “best prime rib around.” The New Home Café was housed in the building for years as well.
Over the years, the Moore Hotel changed hands various times. By the 1970s, the need for a large downtown hotel in Clarion was fading. In 1976, Jim Jerde purchased the building. Though Jerde moved the New Home Café into the building and operated a large party room there, the hotel business was basically at an end.
A Monitor article from September 9, 1976 lamented the ending of the Moore Hotel era: “Times have changed and now travelers look for motels along the highways. During the early years when there were a number of trains daily through Clarion, the hotel and its restaurants were bustling places. The forty hotel rooms were frequently filled. But with the passing of the years and changing times, the hotel business dwindled away, though a success of owners in recent years sought to fight the trends of the times. Now, the building is no longer a hotel, though there is still one apartment on the second floor. All windows on the third floor have been shuttered over, a mute testimony to bygone days.”
Make sure to grab next week’s Monitor for the continuation of this story and read about what became of the Moore Hotel building in the next four decades as well as its recent exciting renovations.
