Old Clarion House taken down

In 1916, the old Clarion House hotel was moved to its location on 1st Street SE. Roy Ross, a railroad engineer, owned the lot when it was moved, and kept it from 1915-1945—the longest the old Clarion House has ever been owned.

Though the ownership records are confusing in places, between 1945 and 1996, the old hotel had 11 owners—on average, a new owner about every four and a half years. During most of that time, the building was a duplex, with the north and south halves rented out to different families. 

It seems that each owner found that maintenance on the old house was too big a task to keep up. In 1976, the house went to a sheriff’s sale, where it was bought by a bank from Webster City, then sold to Jack and Laura Jenkins. In 1995, the Jenkinses sold it to Jane and Michael Faulkner, and in 1996, the Faulkners sold to Roger and Julie Anderson, who owned the house until this year. A few months ago, he transferred ownership to the Clarion Economic Development Corporation, with the intent that they would remove the old building and either sell the lot or put up a new house there. The builiding was destroyed on October 13.

For the full story, see the October 26 edition of the Monitor.