THE TENNEY HOTEL PIE MAKER

One of the faithful readers of this blog, Jeri Nowak, is the daughter of Fritz and Leona (Kath) Novak. Her mother Leona was the daughter of William and Anna Kath, who lived just a mile outside of Tenney. There were 12 children in the William Kath family. That’s a lot of Kaths (or….as they were known in that time….the KATES)!

Jeri mentioned that her mother’s sister, Esther Kath, one of those 12 children, worked at the old hotel in Tenney at the Turn of the Century, making pies for its patrons. The hotel, which burned to the ground in 1924, served as a matchmaker for Miss Esther and her husband-to-be. At the time Esther was working at the hotel a young gentleman, George Weiss, who had grown up in another community, came to Tenney to visit his parents. His parents were the proprietors of the hotel at the time. That visit provided a spark that lasted a lifetime for Esther and George. Allan Weiss, son of Esther and George, do you have any more to add to this story?

I seem to recall in my research that a man named Vitalis once owned the old Tenney Hotel. The building not only housed the hotel, but also a saloon, barber shop and pool hall. It stood on a street which was, in the very earliest years, the actual “Main Street” of Tenney. That street ran PARALLEL to the railroad tracks and was also the location of the livery stable, an ice house and two grain elevators. It was named "Main Street" because it was the first street in town. As one pictures a street scene from the late 1800s and early 1900s, it makes sense that a hotel would be located just across the street from the train depot, along with a livery stable and ice house. Somewhere I have a photo of my great grandfather, John P. Polifka, standing in front of the livery. When I find it, I will post it to this blog.

In the early 1910s, buildings were built on the street we all now think of as "Main Street" (actually, it is "Concord Avenue"!), which runs perpendictular to the railroad tracks. The businesses on the old Main Street eventually all burned down or disappeared in some fashion, and the new Main Street became the town's main drag. This street eventually boasted the presence of the Town Hall, Fire Hall, Tenney Church and parsonage, Post Office, Larson Store, Wittman Garage, and other Tenney landmarks such as the town pump.

Given that the hotel burned to the ground in 1924, I am doubtful that any readers of this blog would recall the hotel itself, but do you have any Tenney Hotel stories?