A New Lease on Life?
At nearly two centuries old, the Vinton County landmark Hotel McArthur readies for change. Those in the area have mixed feelings. Story by EMI BARON Photos by EMI BARON and BO KUHN
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rominently located in the heart of McArthur, on the corner of U.S. Route 50 and State Route 93, rests the village’s oldest surviving structure: Hotel McArthur. “This is a really fascinating place. You walk in, and it wraps its arms around you. It’s hard to explain,” current tenant Beth Gilliland says. Gilliland has worked in the establishment on and off since 1996, developing a strong affinity for the L-shaped building constructed in 1839 that predates the county. Vinton County was formed in 1850. She has access to previous owner Kathryn Matteson’s handwritten notes on the hotel from a conversation with Paul “Hoagie” Hogan, the owner from the 1900s who made significant additions to the hotel, such as a hand-dug basement, in the 1960s. On Dec. 17, 2021, the building was purchased by the Vinton County Convention and Visitors Bureau after over a year of negotiation initiated by Marketing Director Caleb Appleman. The city has plans to renovate the building back into a functioning hotel with a restaurant and gift shop as well as the visitors bureau headquarters in the lobby. Hotel McArthur’s major renovations are projected to cost up to $2.5 million. The city officially closed in on the property March 31. The visitors bureau is looking to secure funding so the construction can begin as early as this summer. Appleman says the vision is to blend elements from the 1800s with modern-day amenities, such as adding an ADAcompliant ramp for entering the building, while preserving as much of the original interior as possible. As a lifetime Vinton County resident, Appleman extensively researched how to most accurately renovate the building to make it resemble what it looked like back in the late 1800s. “There’s not a whole lot of photography from the 1800s of historic hotels, but I did what I could to fill in the gaps. The earliest photograph we have of Hotel McArthur went back to about 1914 and, at that point, it had already gone under many renovations,” Appleman says. The building used to have a mansard roof, but it burned in the late 1800s. The renovation plans include rebuilding this roof along with historical lamp posts, horse-hitching
