The following article was submitted by Millie and Dean Stowell...Please send your vacation stories or any other articles you would like to share with the rest of the community to islandtime77@yahoo.com

 

Millie and Dean Stowell spent their vacation volunteering in the restoration of their Honeymoon Hotel.

 

 

 Volunteers pitch in to restore aging hotel in Bedford, Iowa
BY ELIZABETH AHLIN
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

BEDFORD, Iowa - Nearly 63 years ago, a young woman from upstate New York and a young Navy man from Iowa spent their first married night at the Garland Hotel, after pledging their lives to one another at the local Methodist parsonage.

Dean and Millie Stowells' honeymoon night at the Garland was a small blessing for the couple, a gift from Dean's sister for two young lovers just beginning their lives together.

When the Stowells - Dean is now 82 and Millie is 81 - look back on that November night, they remember nice leather furniture in front of the fireplace, a sturdy wooden staircase leading upstairs and a charming little hotel room with a claw-foot tub. Today, the furniture is gone, and a claw-foot tub rests against a wall at the far end of the lobby.

But one day, the Garland could again be a memorable destination for two young lovers. A group of local citizens is committed to restoring and reopening the hotel in the southwest Iowa town of Bedford, population 1,476, so tourists and travelers can get a taste of the grandeur that once graced Main Street.

The hotel has been a downtown fixture since 1857, when it was built as the Bedford House, and it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. But the hotel was closed in 1997, and four years ago, it was headed for the rubbish pile. An addition to the hotel had collapsed, and city leaders were worried the whole building was unsafe.

Some citizens pooled their money to pay off liens against the hotel and secured a grant - enough to persuade town leaders to rescind their order and allow the Bedford residents to assume control of the hotel.

Since then, the project has been a labor of love for locals, with a lot of labor involved. More than 3,000 volunteer hours have gone into repairing and restoring the hotel.

The group has cleared out the rubble from the collapsed annex, restored and painted the front and back of the building, restored several pillars that had been removed by the city and rebuilt the second floor balcony.

Inside, the building is filled with treasures waiting to be reconditioned and reclaimed. Beautiful tin ceilings are being uncovered, and imported terrazzo floors remain - although small cracks show the wear of time. Upstairs, painted ceramic plates bearing room numbers are surrounded by cracked and peeling paint.

On a recent morning, the Stowells toured the Garland - a surprise visit at the tail end of a family reunion nearby. The couple, who have lived in Florida for more than 50 years, walked up the grand staircase again, shoulders brushing against the crumbling 1940s wallpaper that stretches the length of the hallway on the second floor.

They walked through the rooms, paying particular attention to Room 8, where Dean Stowell believes he and his wife stayed, and Room 7, where a more noted guest - the infamous bandit Jesse James - is rumored to have spent the night after robbing a train in Anita, Iowa.

The one night James reportedly spent at the Garland is legend in Taylor County. As the story goes, James, already a wanted man, left his horse at a livery stable that sat kitty-corner from the hotel. He traveled through an underground passage, emerged in the dining room and took a back staircase straight upstairs to his room.

The tunnel has long since collapsed, but signs of those times -a heavy wood dresser, an iron-frame bed - remain in the bedroom today.

It is these stories, that history, and a love for her hometown that prompted Kay Lucas to get involved four years ago.

"If the hotel had gone, probably the next two or three buildings would have gone down, too," said Lucas, who sees saving the Garland as a vital part of preserving Bedford.

The undertaking is immense. Lucas keeps the estimated cost of the entire project close to the vest, worried that the tremendous amount "would scare people," she said.

The group has received several grants over the years and undertaken several fundraisers. Volunteers have collected aluminum cans and sold cookbooks. One woman crafted 800 cloth pouches, for microwaving potatoes, that have been sold for the effort at $5 a pop.

The lobby is filled with donations of art objects, which will be displayed in the lobby. A gift shop will sell local artists' wares, with proceeds going toward hotel renovations.

This summer, progress was slow. The group's longtime volunteer plumber died after a battle with cancer, and the volunteer electrician moved out of town.

"A lot of people just aren't aware of how big a project it is and what it's going to take to get it done," said Deann Hensley, executive director of the Bedford Area Development Center.

Lucas thinks the first floor could be finished this year, opening the lobby and the gift shop to the public. In time, it is hoped that the old dining room will again be a restaurant, and eventually that the Garland will be a working hotel with up to eight rooms.

When that happens, one couple already is in line for the honeymoon suite.

"We'll be back for our 70th," said Dean Stowell. ,