The Harris Centennial
Harris --The past 100 Years
Harris Hotel
Page 53-54
First Harris Hotel Built by F. Wernstrum in 1898
Johnnie Wernstrum is believed to have
built the first hotel in Harris in about 1898. A few years later
it was operated by B. C. Hickok. An ad in the February 10, 1905
issue of “The Harris Bee” states: City Hotel, B. C.
Hickok, Prop., single meals 35c, lodging 50c. It stood on the
East Side of Main Street, about where the Co-op Station is now
located.
Mrs. Elmer Stahly, the former Mabel Wilson, recalls arriving in
Harris in 1902 from Decar Falls, with her parents, Mr. and Mrs.
J. B. Wilson and sister, Gladys, and staying in the hotel until
they could move to a farm near Harris.
The hotel was later owned and operated by the DeLeer sisters.
Part of the building was used for grade school classes in about
1916, and until the new school house was built. It was later torn
down and the lumber used in a set of buildings on the east shore
of West Lake Okoboji.
Another hotel was located on the west side of the street, now the
Tullis Café. When built, it had two stories. A fire damaged the
upper story many years ago, thus the remaining one story
building.
A few of the old timers who operated the hotel were the H.B.
Crauns, Joe Doerrs, Elmer Hatches, the Parashaws, Lester Crauns,
E.O. Allens, Wally Selser, and perhaps others.
The Crichton Hotel, 209 Main Street, was the last of the Harris
hotels to quit business.
-Written by Mr. and Mrs. Chris Heppler