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Betty Robey of Monroe City spent many hours manning the switchboard at the Maryland Hotel on Broadway in Hannibal, in addition to registering guests and overseeing the operation of a coffee shop and bar. She doesn’t remember Otis Howell of the Courier-Post staff taking her picture in the hotel’s lobby back in 1948, and was surprised to see her picture on page A2 of the Tuesday, Feb. 21 edition.
The old Conklin Hotel (later to be renamed the Maryland Hotel) next door to City Hall has been in the news lately due to its crumbling facade. The city took the step of putting up construction fencing last summer, as a safety precaution. Now there’s a discussion in progress regarding the building’s stability.
Betty and her husband, Bob Robey, moved from Monroe City to Hannibal in the 1940s, to take over operation of the hotel for it’s owner, Bob’s father. They lived in the hotel for a little while, she said, before moving over to the Maryland Apartments on Center Street, which her father-in-law also owned.
Betty doesn’t remember the exact dates, but they operated the hotel for a number of years.
“All the salesmen stayed there,” she said, including those in the lumber industry. Their busiest time was the first of the week, when the salesmen were in town to make their calls.
“I worked behind the desk, all over as far as that goes.”
The hotel rooms consisted of one room with a bed and a dresser, and a bath.
Two murals decorated the lobby, painted by an artist from Monroe City.
To the west of the lobby was a bar, and to the east was a restaurant. According to Courier-Post files, a special of the day might consist of baked hamburger and spaghetti for 50 cents, or salmon loaf for 50 cents. Fresh strawberry shortcake was on the seasonal menu, for 25 cents per serving.
She remembers selling wrestling tickets for bouts at the old Armory.
The Kiwanis Club met in a lounge at the back of the building. Eventually the Robeys excavated the basement of the building, and the Cellar Bar opened downstairs. “We had to dig it down some to make it level and high enough,” she said. For awhile, a sporting goods store operated on the main floor where the bar used to be.
“I worked seven days a week, yes mam, I‘m afraid so,” Betty said, “and more than eight hours a day.”
She doesn’t remember what year the family sold the hotel, but she does know that she was happy to be out of the hotel business. “It’s a lot of work, especially when you have the eating and drinking and the hotel, too,” she said.
Betty and Bob moved back to Monroe City in 1986. Her husband died in 2008.
Betty Robey of Monroe City spent many hours manning the switchboard at the Maryland Hotel on Broadway in Hannibal, in addition to registering guests and overseeing the operation of a coffee shop and bar. She doesn’t remember Otis Howell of the Courier-Post staff taking her picture in the hotel’s lobby back in 1948, and was surprised to see her picture on page A2 of the Tuesday, Feb. 21 edition.
The old Conklin Hotel (later to be renamed the Maryland Hotel) next door to City Hall has been in the news lately due to its crumbling facade. The city took the step of putting up construction fencing last summer, as a safety precaution. Now there’s a discussion in progress regarding the building’s stability.
Betty and her husband, Bob Robey, moved from Monroe City to Hannibal in the 1940s, to take over operation of the hotel for it’s owner, Bob’s father. They lived in the hotel for a little while, she said, before moving over to the Maryland Apartments on Center Street, which her father-in-law also owned.
Betty doesn’t remember the exact dates, but they operated the hotel for a number of years.
“All the salesmen stayed there,” she said, including those in the lumber industry. Their busiest time was the first of the week, when the salesmen were in town to make their calls.
“I worked behind the desk, all over as far as that goes.”
The hotel rooms consisted of one room with a bed and a dresser, and a bath.
Two murals decorated the lobby, painted by an artist from Monroe City.
To the west of the lobby was a bar, and to the east was a restaurant. According to Courier-Post files, a special of the day might consist of baked hamburger and spaghetti for 50 cents, or salmon loaf for 50 cents. Fresh strawberry shortcake was on the seasonal menu, for 25 cents per serving.
She remembers selling wrestling tickets for bouts at the old Armory.
The Kiwanis Club met in a lounge at the back of the building. Eventually the Robeys excavated the basement of the building, and the Cellar Bar opened downstairs. “We had to dig it down some to make it level and high enough,” she said. For awhile, a sporting goods store operated on the main floor where the bar used to be.
“I worked seven days a week, yes mam, I‘m afraid so,” Betty said, “and more than eight hours a day.”
She doesn’t remember what year the family sold the hotel, but she does know that she was happy to be out of the hotel business. “It’s a lot of work, especially when you have the eating and drinking and the hotel, too,” she said.
Betty and Bob moved back to Monroe City in 1986. Her husband died in 2008.
