If there’s a need for a column topic, I can always rely on local historical researcher Kevin Savick for the needed background material. Thus, one of his recent contributions is based on a historic hotel in Glenville.

What Kevin found were several news items about this hotel. One from the Nov. 7, 1929, issue of the weekly Freeborn County Standard newspaper said, in part, this hotel was “One of the first brick buildings in Freeborn County (and) was erected in 1857 when Glenville was a larger town than Albert Lea.” The Tribune in the Nov. 6, 1929, issue explained that “This building was know in the early days as the Commercial Hotel and at that time was considered (to be) a fashionable place.”

Before there’s an explanation as to why these news items appeared in the Albert Lea newspapers 79 years ago, let’s deal with several historical errors.

If Glenville was a larger town than Albert Lea 151 years ago, then it was likely by just a log cabin or two. This comparison didn’t last long as Albert Lea continued to grow and the community on Shell Rock River just grew a little slower.

However, the greater error is the name of the town to the southeast of Albert Lea. It wasn’t named Glenville back in 1857. The real names once used for this locality were Shell Rock and Woodside. That’s right, there were actually two towns at the present site of what’s now Glenville.

Woodside never quite developed as planned and Shell Rock had to change its name because of a railroad. This railroad which came up form Osage and Charles City down in Iowa didn’t want to have two towns with the name of Shell Rock on its route. The other somewhat larger town with this name, by the way, is in Butler County, Iowa, and about six miles east of Waverly. Anyway, that’s how the present name of Glenville evolved.

The second railroad to serve what’s now Glenville arrived in 1877 and the town was incorporated with its present name in 1898. And what the actual basis for the name for Glenville happens to be is something I haven’t yet been able to determine through research..

As I’ve already mentioned, this hotel was built in 1857. It was supposed to be a mate to a hotel built a year earlier in nearby St. Nicholas, the county’s first settlement. The hotel in Shell Rock was remodeled in 1861 to make it one of the best hotels in the area.

The Dec. 11, 1929, issue of the Tribune had this comment about the hotel, “From then on it had various owners and renters, slipping from good to indifferent and then to wrack and ruin, at last a decrepit rooming house, a pitiful reminder of the past.” Still another Tribune commentary said, “It was a two-story structure. Time and usage had caused much depreciation both outside and inside.”

Now, at this point, let’s explain why there were three news articles about this hotel in the Albert Lea newspapers during early November 1929.

At this time the hotel was the home for Mr. and Mrs. Ray Eckert who lived on the first floor where there was also a barber shop operated by Arnold Forseth. The only second floor tenant was Willis Greengo.

At about 3 a.m. on Nov. 6, 1929, Greengo smelled smoke. He quickly alerted the Eckerts and they all left the building. The Glenville Fire Department fought the fire which was soon out of control. When it looked like the blaze would start to burn the building next door which had a meat market operated by Fred Morrison, a telephone call was made to the Albert Lea Fire Department. Six Albert Lea firemen, Chief Aleck Larson, and one truck went to Glenville and helped to save the meat market structure. However, the pioneer hotel was a complete loss.

Special thanks go to Kevin for supplying the topic material for this column, plus the next column which will deal with the subject of a Norwegian cheese.

Ed Shannon’s column has been appearing in the Tribune every Friday since December 1984.