The Central Hotel: Lifestyle Affects Business
The Central Hotel was owned and operated by the Woman’s Commonwealth of Belton from 1886 to 1901. The Central Hotel was successful under the ownership of the commonwealth because of their communalistic mindset, simplistic lifestyle and generosity. The Woman’s Commonwealth of Belton began with Martha White McWhirter. McWhirter was born in Tennessee in 1829 where she joined the Methodist church in 1843. Two years later in 1845, Martha married George McWhirter. In 1865, the McWhirters moved to Belton, a small town in central Texas, where they taught and led Sunday school lessons and a prayer group at the Union Sunday School. After one prayer meeting, McWhirter heard the voice of God and realized she experienced a Pentecostal baptism. The second baptism led her to believe and practice sanctification and celibacy. Soon, other women and a few men believed as McWhirter and they met in weekly meetings. Belton citizens did not see eye to eye with the forming group which led to the commonwealth being ostracized. Since the “Sanctificationists” or “Sanctified Sisters,” so called by the citizens of Belton, practiced celibacy, a few angry husbands divorced their sanctified wives. Due to these reasons, the commonwealth depended on one another. The Sanctified Sisters earned their own money by selling milk, butter, eggs, and lumber along with running a laundry business to support them.[i] Due to the success of these small businesses, the Sisterhood opened a larger business known as the Central Hotel.
The idea of opening a hotel in Belton was not the intention of the Sisterhood in the beginning. During the 1870s, two members of the commune worked at a hotel in nearby Temple and learned how to properly run and manage a hotel.[ii] One of the members, Margaret Henry, inherited her late husband’s home and opened it to boarders. The Sisterhood saw this home and the surrounding land as the best spot to develop a new establishment. The Sisterhood bought the city block on which the Henry home was built. With this property and the money saved from the small businesses, expansions to the Henry home and construction for a new building and laundry began in 1883. The Central Hotel opened its doors on May 10, 1886. During the first year of operation, Belton citizens protested the hotel by stopping strangers to speak poorly about the hotel before they could experience it firsthand. However, if the stranger did stay they found that high level of service and food defeated the opposition.[iii] A menu from Christmas day of 1893 displays the quality of food served. The Central Hotel served beef, turkey, a variety of vegetables, multiple types of bread, three types of desserts, fruits, and coffee.[iv] The Central Hotel continued to gain recognition for their service throughout Texas. Soon, it became the Sisterhood’s most profitable enterprise. By 1891, the Central Hotel’s success warranted the need to combine their business endeavors into one. The Sisterhood created a corporation named the Central Hotel Company to hold the hotel’s property, which also included the small laundry. Twenty four women, all members of the commune, gained shares of the capital stock in the company.[v] .
Life within the Sanctified Sisters, and the methods in which the sisters ran the hotel were different and new to the city of Belton. The women believed in living in a communal way. They began with the profits earned from the earlier, smaller business transactions being placed into a common fund with McWhirter named treasurer.[vi] The members only pulled money out of the fund when necessary. Therefore, greediness was not an issue within the commonwealth. Also, the members’dependence on one another was apparent when the members lived together in the McWhirter home. After the Central Hotel opened, the commune moved into the Henry home. The Sisterhood divided responsibilities of the house and hotel evenly amongst the members. In order to operate the hotel, jobs rotated between the members every few weeks. The jobs included cooking, serving in the dining room, laundry, cleaning rooms, washing dishes and entertaining guests by playing the piano and reading poetry.[vii] The rotation of jobs prevented the members from tedium and fostered creativity. In addition to creativity, the Sanctified Sisters kept energy because each member only worked their assigned job for four hours each day. This communalistic routine bettered the hotel by giving members time and energy to serve guests so that business would return.
The communalistic mindset led the Sisterhood to living a simplistic lifestyle. Since every member depended on one another, the Sisterhood did not live outside of their means. George Garrison, a historian who stayed at the Central Hotel in 1891, observed that the members of the commune dressed simply and plainly.[viii]Despite the Sisterhood being primarily women, materialism and a desire for worldly items did not trouble them. The Sisterhood was very proficient at serving each other and guests. A few members ventured out and learned how to cobble shoes, another became a dentist, and multiple members taught the children of the commune. This kept the cost of living down for the Sisterhood. Living simply put money back in the care of the hotel; and serving each other and guests suggests that the hotel’s atmosphere was more inviting and pleasurable.
Serving each other and the sisterhood’s customers gave way to charitable and generous acts for the community. Mainly because of the Central Hotel, the Sisterhood grew on the community by 1890 even though the community did not agree with their beliefs. Due to the financial success of the Central Hotel, the Sisterhood donated money to various institutions within Belton. The commonwealth donated five hundred dollars to the railroad, one hundred dollars to an opera house in Belton, and the Central Hotel was the home of the first public library in Belton.[ix] After seeing the need for a public library building, McWhirter petitioned Andrew Carnegie for a donation to the cause. Carnegie consented and donated ten thousand dollars. The Carnegie library was built across the street from the Central Hotel. Also, while McWhirter was in New York visiting her son, Ada Haymond, a member of the commune, held a banquet for the soldiers of the Spanish-American War in the Central Hotel.[x] The citizens of Belton could not deny nor ignore the Sisterhood’s kindness to the community. These generous acts made the Central Hotel more well-known and promoted the business as a whole even though they were not intended to do so.
In spite of the hotel’s triumphs, the Sisterhood decided to sell the Central Hotel in 1899 in order to move to Washington, D.C.. Quickly, the Sisterhood discovered it as a difficult task to complete. The revenue that came into Belton through the Central Hotel made the citizens of Belton unenthusiastic and hesitant to see the commonwealth leave.[xi] Nonetheless, in early 1899 the Sisterhood leased the hotel to a Mr. Hirshfield. Hirschfield could not execute the necessary tasks needed to operate the hotel and backed out on the lease. As a result, the Sisterhood leased the Central Hotel to a second man by the name of Charles Fisher in July 1899. Soon, the hotel became dirty, poorly managed, overran, and uncharacteristic of the well-known hotel that the Sisterhood created. Eventually in 1900, two members
returned to Texas in order to renovate the worn down hotel. The Sisters were dissatisfied in the leasers because of the poor hotel management skills.Fortunately for the Sisterhood, the Central Hotel was sold in February 1901 to S.F. Speer for over seventeen thousand dollars.[xii] The men who unsuccessfully leased the hotel did not operate the hotel in the manner that the Sisterhood did. Greed and selfishness, rather than serving others and minimal living, motivated their business thoughts which in turn created a lack in business.
T he Woman’s Commonwealth of Belton prospered businesswise. Even while the city of Belton shunned them for their beliefs the Sanctified Sisters persevered in order to survive. That new faith guided the Sisterhood to a different way of life. The different life fostered generosity, simplicity, and a communalistic way of living which all facilitated the construction of a well-known and prosperous hotel in Texas. Others took a stab at the hotel business, but failed due to their lack of servant leadership. The Sanctified Sisters did not sit well with the community of Belton, but in the end the community was not happy to see them leave. The Central Hotel prospered and flourished under the Sisterhood because of their different way of life. The Sanctified Sisters left a mark on Belton, partly due to their radical beliefs, but also due to their most successful business endeavor, the Central Hotel. The Woman’s Commonwealth of Belton improved Belton’s economy because of their special and atypical lifestyle.
Endnotes
[i]Margarita Spalding Gerry,”The Woman’s Commonwealth of Washington,’” Ainslee’s Magazine, September 1902, 135.
[ii]George P. Garrison,”A Woman’s Community in Texas,” Charities Review of New York 3, no. 2 (1893): 38.
[iii]Ibid., 39: Sally Kitch, Strange Society of Women: Reading the Letters and Lives of
the Woman’s Commonwealth (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1993), 42.
[iv]Menu of Central Hotel. December 25, 1893. Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.
[v]Shares of the Capital Stock of the Central Hotel Company. June 22, 1896. Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.
[vi]Gerry, 135.
[vii]Ibid., 136.
[viii]Garrison, 44.
[ix]Ibid., 45: James K. Evetts,”Formation of Belton Women’s Wednesday Study Club” (speech, Hardy Hall at University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Belton, TX, 1967).
[x]Kitch, 80.
[xi]Kitch, 83.
[xii]Ibid., 108.
Bibliography
Evetts, James K. ”Formation of Belton Women’s Wednesday Study Club” Speech, Hardy Hall at University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Belton, TX, 1967
Garrison, George P. ”A Woman’s Community in Texas,” Charities Review of New York 3 (November 1893): 28-46.
Gerry, Margarita Spalding, ”The Woman’s Commonwealth of Washington,’” Ainslee’s Magazine, September 1902.
Kitch, Sally. Strange Society of Women: Reading the Letters and Lives of the Woman’s Commonwealth. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1993
Menu of Central Hotel. Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.
Shares of the Capital Stock of the Central Hotel Company. Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.
The idea of opening a hotel in Belton was not the intention of the Sisterhood in the beginning. During the 1870s, two members of the commune worked at a hotel in nearby Temple and learned how to properly run and manage a hotel.[ii] One of the members, Margaret Henry, inherited her late husband’s home and opened it to boarders. The Sisterhood saw this home and the surrounding land as the best spot to develop a new establishment. The Sisterhood bought the city block on which the Henry home was built. With this property and the money saved from the small businesses, expansions to the Henry home and construction for a new building and laundry began in 1883. The Central Hotel opened its doors on May 10, 1886. During the first year of operation, Belton citizens protested the hotel by stopping strangers to speak poorly about the hotel before they could experience it firsthand. However, if the stranger did stay they found that high level of service and food defeated the opposition.[iii] A menu from Christmas day of 1893 displays the quality of food served. The Central Hotel served beef, turkey, a variety of vegetables, multiple types of bread, three types of desserts, fruits, and coffee.[iv] The Central Hotel continued to gain recognition for their service throughout Texas. Soon, it became the Sisterhood’s most profitable enterprise. By 1891, the Central Hotel’s success warranted the need to combine their business endeavors into one. The Sisterhood created a corporation named the Central Hotel Company to hold the hotel’s property, which also included the small laundry. Twenty four women, all members of the commune, gained shares of the capital stock in the company.[v] .
Life within the Sanctified Sisters, and the methods in which the sisters ran the hotel were different and new to the city of Belton. The women believed in living in a communal way. They began with the profits earned from the earlier, smaller business transactions being placed into a common fund with McWhirter named treasurer.[vi] The members only pulled money out of the fund when necessary. Therefore, greediness was not an issue within the commonwealth. Also, the members’dependence on one another was apparent when the members lived together in the McWhirter home. After the Central Hotel opened, the commune moved into the Henry home. The Sisterhood divided responsibilities of the house and hotel evenly amongst the members. In order to operate the hotel, jobs rotated between the members every few weeks. The jobs included cooking, serving in the dining room, laundry, cleaning rooms, washing dishes and entertaining guests by playing the piano and reading poetry.[vii] The rotation of jobs prevented the members from tedium and fostered creativity. In addition to creativity, the Sanctified Sisters kept energy because each member only worked their assigned job for four hours each day. This communalistic routine bettered the hotel by giving members time and energy to serve guests so that business would return.
The communalistic mindset led the Sisterhood to living a simplistic lifestyle. Since every member depended on one another, the Sisterhood did not live outside of their means. George Garrison, a historian who stayed at the Central Hotel in 1891, observed that the members of the commune dressed simply and plainly.[viii]Despite the Sisterhood being primarily women, materialism and a desire for worldly items did not trouble them. The Sisterhood was very proficient at serving each other and guests. A few members ventured out and learned how to cobble shoes, another became a dentist, and multiple members taught the children of the commune. This kept the cost of living down for the Sisterhood. Living simply put money back in the care of the hotel; and serving each other and guests suggests that the hotel’s atmosphere was more inviting and pleasurable.
Serving each other and the sisterhood’s customers gave way to charitable and generous acts for the community. Mainly because of the Central Hotel, the Sisterhood grew on the community by 1890 even though the community did not agree with their beliefs. Due to the financial success of the Central Hotel, the Sisterhood donated money to various institutions within Belton. The commonwealth donated five hundred dollars to the railroad, one hundred dollars to an opera house in Belton, and the Central Hotel was the home of the first public library in Belton.[ix] After seeing the need for a public library building, McWhirter petitioned Andrew Carnegie for a donation to the cause. Carnegie consented and donated ten thousand dollars. The Carnegie library was built across the street from the Central Hotel. Also, while McWhirter was in New York visiting her son, Ada Haymond, a member of the commune, held a banquet for the soldiers of the Spanish-American War in the Central Hotel.[x] The citizens of Belton could not deny nor ignore the Sisterhood’s kindness to the community. These generous acts made the Central Hotel more well-known and promoted the business as a whole even though they were not intended to do so.
In spite of the hotel’s triumphs, the Sisterhood decided to sell the Central Hotel in 1899 in order to move to Washington, D.C.. Quickly, the Sisterhood discovered it as a difficult task to complete. The revenue that came into Belton through the Central Hotel made the citizens of Belton unenthusiastic and hesitant to see the commonwealth leave.[xi] Nonetheless, in early 1899 the Sisterhood leased the hotel to a Mr. Hirshfield. Hirschfield could not execute the necessary tasks needed to operate the hotel and backed out on the lease. As a result, the Sisterhood leased the Central Hotel to a second man by the name of Charles Fisher in July 1899. Soon, the hotel became dirty, poorly managed, overran, and uncharacteristic of the well-known hotel that the Sisterhood created. Eventually in 1900, two members
returned to Texas in order to renovate the worn down hotel. The Sisters were dissatisfied in the leasers because of the poor hotel management skills.Fortunately for the Sisterhood, the Central Hotel was sold in February 1901 to S.F. Speer for over seventeen thousand dollars.[xii] The men who unsuccessfully leased the hotel did not operate the hotel in the manner that the Sisterhood did. Greed and selfishness, rather than serving others and minimal living, motivated their business thoughts which in turn created a lack in business.
T he Woman’s Commonwealth of Belton prospered businesswise. Even while the city of Belton shunned them for their beliefs the Sanctified Sisters persevered in order to survive. That new faith guided the Sisterhood to a different way of life. The different life fostered generosity, simplicity, and a communalistic way of living which all facilitated the construction of a well-known and prosperous hotel in Texas. Others took a stab at the hotel business, but failed due to their lack of servant leadership. The Sanctified Sisters did not sit well with the community of Belton, but in the end the community was not happy to see them leave. The Central Hotel prospered and flourished under the Sisterhood because of their different way of life. The Sanctified Sisters left a mark on Belton, partly due to their radical beliefs, but also due to their most successful business endeavor, the Central Hotel. The Woman’s Commonwealth of Belton improved Belton’s economy because of their special and atypical lifestyle.
Endnotes
[i]Margarita Spalding Gerry,”The Woman’s Commonwealth of Washington,’” Ainslee’s Magazine, September 1902, 135.
[ii]George P. Garrison,”A Woman’s Community in Texas,” Charities Review of New York 3, no. 2 (1893): 38.
[iii]Ibid., 39: Sally Kitch, Strange Society of Women: Reading the Letters and Lives of
the Woman’s Commonwealth (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1993), 42.
[iv]Menu of Central Hotel. December 25, 1893. Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.
[v]Shares of the Capital Stock of the Central Hotel Company. June 22, 1896. Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.
[vi]Gerry, 135.
[vii]Ibid., 136.
[viii]Garrison, 44.
[ix]Ibid., 45: James K. Evetts,”Formation of Belton Women’s Wednesday Study Club” (speech, Hardy Hall at University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Belton, TX, 1967).
[x]Kitch, 80.
[xi]Kitch, 83.
[xii]Ibid., 108.
Bibliography
Evetts, James K. ”Formation of Belton Women’s Wednesday Study Club” Speech, Hardy Hall at University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Belton, TX, 1967
Garrison, George P. ”A Woman’s Community in Texas,” Charities Review of New York 3 (November 1893): 28-46.
Gerry, Margarita Spalding, ”The Woman’s Commonwealth of Washington,’” Ainslee’s Magazine, September 1902.
Kitch, Sally. Strange Society of Women: Reading the Letters and Lives of the Woman’s Commonwealth. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1993
Menu of Central Hotel. Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.
Shares of the Capital Stock of the Central Hotel Company. Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.