Valley Mills Progress (Valley Mills, Tex.), Vol. 25, No. 47, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 13, 2014 Page: 4 of 6
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PAGE FOUR
VALLEY MILLS PROGRESS
MARCH 13,2014
B.K. Stuart stands outside her building, which is the last fragment of the old Crow Hotel, which once filled the whole block
Stuart renovating historic downtown building
ARCHED STONE ENTRANCE to the tunnel Behind David
Smith's Extreme Manufacturing building. The 100-year-old
drainage tunnel runs under Hwy. 6 and what was the Crow Hotel.
SALES ■ SERVICE ■ PARTS
800-659-6632
By DONNA VETETO
The old Crow Hotel on Hwy. 6 in
Valley Mills burned to the ground just
about daybreak in 1926 or 1928,
leaving only a bit of the structure on
the corner of what is now Fourth
Street and Hwy. 6. That bit of history
is now the property of B.K. Stuart.
The comer, known for years as the
video store, is being renovated and
Stuart plans to open retail shops
inside the building.
Stuart, who lives in Virginia, has
owned the building for 17 or 18
years.
"For the past four years, I've been
taking my vacations here in Valley
Mills and work on the building,"
Stuart said. "Yes, there were many
problems, I knew it was going to take
a lot of time and money."
"I only have two weeks vacation a
year and the rest of the time I work
at a full-time job so I'd have a little
money to put into it," she said. "Each
year I make a little progress, and most
of the important upgrades can't be
seen from the outside, like the
plumbing and foundation."
Stuart had the floor leveled and the
foundation repaired last week.
"God tells us nothing stands
without a good foundation," Stuart
said. "Many people wanted me to
give up and tear the building down,
but there is so much history in this
building."
"One time I prayed and I asked
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The Crow Hotel as it looked in the 1920s
God why do I look at something so
messed up, so ugly and looks
impossible to fix and see such beauty,
the message was 'this is how I looked
at you when the world was ready to
give up on you, they thought you were
a hopeless case,"' she said. "I looked
through all the garbage and I saw
what you could be in Christ."
She said she didn't change
overnight, but God never gave up on
her.
"So as long as I can, I'll be here each
year to work on the old Crow Hotel
and make it a useful part of Valley
Mills," Stuart said. "Each time I come
here, so many people bless me, God
sends me good men to work on the
building, people give me good moral
support and encourage me."
She said so many people see past
the needs and see beauty. She said
Mayor Jerry Pierce and Mark and
Donna at the newspaper have been a
support in her efforts.
She also said that Bill Lancaster,
previous mayor Rodney Nichols and
the water company had helped her to
clear the tunnel of debris.
She was grateful to Curtis
Wiethorn, because when he owned
the grocery store he let her use water
and the First Baptist Church for
sharing electricity before the building
was re-wired.
Andy Sadler also helped her get the
trees off the building and prevented
further damage to the foundation.
She also was happy to have Mike
Chrisman do her plumbing work and
to Wes Bennett for leveling the floor
and fixing the foundation.
"My plan for the building is to have
a few nice-sized shops," Stuart said.
"Not only will they bring life to the
building, but also more to Valley
Mills."
She plans to have the first shop
open by May 1.
"I'm going to call the building
Crow's Comer, after the Crow Hotel,"
Stuart said. "The building needs a lot
of work and I'm going to do a little
bit at a time."
Stuart lived in Valley Mills for four
or five years, and now works as a
massage therapist at a spa in Virginia.
"I've worked for the past 15 years
as a massage therapist," Stuart said.
"God works through me."
"I work at the spa and I love it,"
she said. "It's the perfect thing but I
wouldn't have done it if God hadn't
made me do it."
As for the building, Stuart plans to
get some new doors for the entire
building.
"I want new doors so they all
match," Stuart said. "I also want to
put a sign up on the corner of the
building that says 'Crow's Corner.'"
The Crow Hotel was seen, in its
day, as a modem hotel facility but it
burned, leaving only one small comer.
At the time Valley Mills had no fire
department, so all one could do was
watch it burn.
According to newspaper accounts,
the late Pete Drake was offered a
reward to recover some diamond
rings in one of the rooms, and he got
the rings and got out just before the
west wall collapsed.
All of the bricks were salvaged, as
well as some of the ornamental
masonry of the old structure and were
used to build a smaller hotel, which
was the Stockman Hotel.
The upstairs balcony had an old-
time double swing chair, which was
the delight of every kid in town.
If the boys got tired playing on the
balcony they might be brave enough
to explore the dark tunnel which ran
under the hotel and came out past Tom
Nesbitt's Garage.
The bottom floor housed many
businesses, including Joe Howard's
Men's Outfitters, a barbershop, a short
order cafe, a jewelry shop and Butler's
Bakery.
Mr. Butler had just established his
-N- WOK
Oriental &
American Cuisine
Burger & Shake $3.99
Hot Dog & Drink $2.99
Hwy. 6, Valley Mills
254-932-6308
Mon. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. Closed Sunday
Breaded Shrimp - Fries - Salad $7.49
Mexican Hamburger - Fries - Drink $5.99
Lunch Special $5.49
with drink (m-f h-2)
Hwy. 6, Valley Mills
Phone 932-6447
bakery and made delicious bread
baked from local wheat which was
ground in Valley Mills at the Sleeper
Mill.
On the ground floor of the West
Side was the large and airy hotel
dining room, where fine, full-course
meals were served three times a day
on tables set with white linen and
served by waiters in white uniforms.
On the top floor there was a hospital.
From the
Valley Mills Tribune, 1915
According to information
submitted by Jo Nell Meyer, Mr. J.E.
McGuire, formerly of Groesbeck, has
rented the Crow Hotel, just
completed, and opened same last
Tuesday morning.
The Tribune man, in company with
Mr. McGuire, went through the entire
building on last Monday morning and
took a look at each room, dining
room, lobby and is bound to
pronounce this institution one of the
best both as to arrangement and
furnishings we have ever seen in a
town anything the size of Valley Mills
and believe there is not a town in this
section of the state that can boast of a
better hostelry than can Valley Mills.
When the old Parker house burned
a few months ago, it was apparent that
a building of much larger capacity
was needed in Valley Mills. J.B.
Crow, who had confidence in the
growth of the town offered to build
the long needed hotel.
Crow asked a bonus of $ 1,000 from
the citizens here and agreed to put up
a building to cost not less than
$10,000. The bonus, or at least, a
greater portion was readily subscribed
and he began negotiations for lots on
Main street on which "rat row" stood.
The deals went through, work
begun, and where formerly stood a
row of wooden shacks, now stand to
the credit of Mr. Crow, a whole block
of brick buildings, costing in the
neighborhood of $30,000.
In securing Mr. McGuire and
family to operate the hotel, we firmly
believe a better man could not have
been secured if the entire state had
been gone over.
Tunnel under the hotel
There is a century-old tunnel
underneath the property. It is one of
the last remnants of the hotel, built in
1915, that once took up the entire
block where the First Baptist Church
now stands.
The tunnel, about six feet high,
begins a block south or Wiethorn's
Grocery Store and runs several
hundred yards, passing under the
highway and emerging behind David
Smith's Extreme Manufacturing
building. That building was once the
livery stable.
There is elegant, arched stonework
inside the tunnel and the remnants of
an old stone bridge.
"I'd like to invite people to come
and visit the next time I come to town
and see what we're doing," Stuart
said. "The building didn't get this way
overnight and it will take time and
prayer to get it back to its useful
space."
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Grear, Mark. Valley Mills Progress (Valley Mills, Tex.), Vol. 25, No. 47, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 13, 2014, newspaper, March 13, 2014; Valley Mills, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth756654/m1/4/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Nellie Pederson Civic Library.