One of Iola’s oldest businesses will fade into the past at the end of this year, when the Hotel Kelley bids good-bye to its last guest and washes the dishes from the final meal in its coffee shop. Fred Hoye, owner-operator, said costs of operating the business have steadily increased while income has declined. Hoye was forced to take bankruptcy earlier this year and Dave Conderman was appointed by the court to administer business affairs in an effort to salvage some cash. Conderman said the effort proved futile, forcing the decision to close. The hotel’s founder was Ira D. Kelley, who went into the hotel business in Iola in 1908. Business was brisk and a third story was added to the hotel in 1927 when the elevator was added and the restaurant was opened. Mrs. Kelley, now Mrs. T. M. Warner, remembers that all men were required to wear a coat and tie to eat and that smoking was forbidden at the dining room tables. Kelley operated the business until his death in 1941 and built several other buildings in the block on South Washington during his business career. The closing of the hotel here retells a tale that is commonplace in cities large and small from coast to coast. Hotels have been replaced by motels, just as passenger trains have been replaced by the car, and neither inspiration nor perspiration can rescue either from joining the gas lamp and the buggy whip in the museums of what used to be.
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Twenty local adults will complete courses at Allen County Community Junior College preparing them to earn the equivalent of high school diplomas and will take tests covering their studies next week. The General Education Development program examinations will be given for any adults who wish to take them next week.
28 — Mr. and Mrs. Barney Myers of Iola have acquired the Boyd Nursing Home of Garnett and will take over Jan. 1. The purchase brings the total of Myers facilities to 213 beds, with homes located in Kansas City, and Allen and Anderson counties. The Myers have leased the McAtee skilled nursing home here since Oct. 1.
