On the corner of what was then First Street and Kansas avenue sat the Menzie House, one of Huron’s many early hotels. A two-and-a-half-story building, it also included a livery stable further down the street. Like other hotels in booming towns along the railroad, it saw its share of guests. And in the case of the Menzie House, it saw its share of trouble, too.
Above: The red "X" shows the location of the Menzie property, with the hotel to the left, and the livery stable to the right.
Below: the same area, with the red "X" marking the location of the hotel.
The hotel was opened by New York
native John W. Menzie in 1883, and was described in the local newspaper as “well-kept
and furnished, with large, bright rooms.”
Mr. Menzie, the article elaborated, “takes pains in making his house
inviting in its arrangements, its cleanliness and the splendid table regularly
set before his guests. As a host Mr.
Menzie has the happy faculty of making his guests feel at home, and pays strict
attention to the many details that help to make a hotel a success, and which
disregarded are sure to bring failure.” But, at some point details were indeed disregarded.
What brought the Menzie family to
Huron isn’t known, but their tenure in the town, and in the hotel business, was
about 10 years. And in that time, they
lost a barn to fire, a child to death, had another child abducted, had one
employee kill another, had a patron claim to be drugged and robbed, and another
patron died refusing to divulge his identity.
In addition, Mr. Menzie was arrested several times on charges relating
to his operation of the hotel.
Perhaps good help was hard to find
in those days. Or perhaps Mr. Menzie
wasn’t particular about his employees. It
was in August of 1886 that Menzie’s livery employee, Nathan Freeman, described
as easily angered, killed Joseph Kessler, another Menzie employee. Kessler, also described as “high-strung and quick-tempered,” was in
charge of the general operations at the hotel.
Kessler was critical of Freeman’s handling of the horses, and his expletive-laced
“suggestions” to Freeman were not well-received. An argument with “coarse words” and a scuffle
broke out, but they eventually separated with little physical harm done, except
for a scratch on Kessler’s face which infuriated him. Kessler made some threats, and threw a
punch. Freeman headed for the hotel building
to find Mr. Menzie, intending to resign, but by the time he got there he
decided to go home to have his mother sew his ripped shirt and return to his
duties in the livery. Before returning
to work, however, he grabbed a revolver and took it back to work with him. Back at the livery, witnesses say that
Kessler continued to harass Freeman, and Freeman could be heard telling
Kessler, “Don’t come near me – keep away from me!” But Kessler continued toward him, so Freeman
took out his gun and raised it to fire, but Kessler hit Freeman’s hand to try
to knock the gun from it, and it discharged, entering Kessler’s left
temple. He fell to his knees, then prone
to the floor. Dr. Huff did all he could
do, but the bullet was lodged deep in Kessler’s brain, and he never regained consciousness. He died a few hours later. Freeman was arrested for murder, but was
later acquitted of the charge.
The site of the old Menzie Livery, where Joseph Kessler was killed.
A few years later, the Menzie’s four-
year-old adopted daughter, Edith, was abducted. Mrs. Menzie had been out shopping, and
picked up a letter at the post office from the child’s birth mother, Ada
Hawthorn, telling her that she “need not be surprised should Edith disappear at
any time.” In fact she might be gone
before the letter even reached Mrs. Menzie.
Ms. Hawthorn clearly stated numerous reasons why the child should no longer remain in the Menzie family, but the primarly
reason was that the Menzie House was not a proper home for her. It was late in the afternoon when Mrs. Menzie
got the letter from the post office, and returning home, she began looking for
Edith, but no one had seen her “for some time.”
The police were summoned and felt confident that the child would be
found and returned, and apparently at some point in time she was indeed returned
to the Menzies.
In 1893 J. Rosenthal took over the Menzie
House and dubbed it “Hotel Columbia” and let the town know that it had been “thoroughly
cleaned and repaired, and will be kept in first-class order.” What, exactly, happened after that isn’t
clear, but it appears that John Menzie was back at the helm a short time after
that.
In January of 1895, Menzie House
was raided, and beer and other liquors were found. The house was closed “by injunction” and the
Menzie family was forced to find shelter elsewhere. The police had been watching the hotel for
some time and the local paper commented, “One would think that the frequency
with which Menzie and his establishment get into trouble that he would become
tired and cry ‘give us a rest.’” But
there was no rest. Menzie was arrested
at least once for selling liquor without a license, was fined at least twice
(and his wife and son each at least once) for “keeping a disreputable house.” After
his wife’s arrest, Menzie “sniffed trouble” and left town, despite having his
own similar charge pending in court.
Said the local newspaper, “Menzie left for parts unknown on a former
occasion and remained away from Huron for two or three years. The moral atmosphere of the town was not
improved by his return.”
The Menzies made their way to Indiana, where they opened a used furniture store in Muncie, and opened another "Menzie House" hotel in Matthews, as well as adopted another
daughter. By 1910, they had moved to
Ashtabula county, Ohio, where Mr. Menzie died in 1922.
 |
| The current site of the old Menzie House hotel, on the corner of what is now Market Road and Kansas ave. |
By 1896, the hotel building in Huron was owned
by Richards Trust Company, and the business was being advertised for rent with
the statement, “A good chance for a good man.”
By 1898 it briefly housed the “Farmers Home” and in 1899 was
purchased by James McWeeny and dubbed the “McWeeny House.”
Sources:
Sanford Fire Insurance Map of Huron, South Dakota 1884 - 1898
The Daily Huronite – numerous issues from 1885 - 1936
Sioux Falls Argus Leader - Nov. 19, 1890; Jan. 5, 1895; Jan. 26, 1895;
March 13, 1895.
1900, 1910, 1920 Federal Censuses
Muncie, Indiana City Directory 1899-1900
The Star Press, Muncie, Indiana, Aug. 28, 1905
“Huron Revisited”
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