Because I had an appointment today in Perryville, I had no intentions to compose a blog post. However, as it turns out, it is that appointment I attended that led to this story. The appointment I had was to a place that I had not previously visited. However, when my wife and I got there, I thought to myself, “I’ve seen this building.”
My wife was wondering why I pulled out my iPhone before even getting out of the car. I quickly did a search back to an old post that I had written back in 2017. Sure enough, I had included a photograph of the exact same building in that post. I showed it to my wife, and she eventually agreed that the building where we were was the same one that was in that photograph. Before I went to my appointment, I took a photo of what the building looks like now.
The story I had written a few years before was titled, Keepers of the Hotels. At one time, this building housed the Ross Hotel. Edna Ross had married Rudolph Lueders and that couple helped operate the Ross Hotel back in the early 1900’s. Below is what this building looked like back then.
The building now houses several offices for local business people. It is not far from the Perry County Courthouse at 17 E. St. Joseph St. Here is a map showing its location.
I guess what I am most pleased about is that I actually remembered the building and the post. Recently, I have been experiencing several “senior moments” and thinking I may be losing some of my memory. This reassured me that I have yet to lose all my mental abilities. Not yet.
UPDATE: I have been told that I have misidentified this house as the Ross Hotel. I have been told it is really the Doerr-Brown House.
The Ross hotel was on South Jackson where the Heck tax service is now. My family lived in the house you have pictured in 1952 until the 1960’s. At that time it was owned by Merlin Brown. It was later owned by a Mr. Sanders, and later owned by Mr Thomas Hoeh.
The comment above is correct … I’m not sure just when the Ross Hotel was torn down .. I always wanted to see the inside, but never did …. Chloe Doerr Brown was, I think, the last to live in the house pictured, which had a rose garden on the corner where the senior apartments are now located. A friend, Betty Tucker, grew up a block away and shared that Chloe was not a friendly neighbor … the late Tom Sanders enrolled this house on the historical register and for a dozen or so years had a museum inside …
Warren, I think the beautiful building photo you took today is actually the Doerr-Brown building.
If so, it was never a hotel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doerr%E2%80%93Brown_House