The Origin of the Meeker Hotel

Initially, the hotel and café were housed in an adobe building, which had been used as a military barracks. Charlie Dunbar and Susan Wright were the original partners. A professional gambler, Charlie was shot and killed during an argument about a card game just a few months after the hotel and café opened for business. In 1884, Miss Wright and Simp Harp became partners in the hotel business. The July 3, 1886 issue of the Meeker Herald reports “The French glass recently arrived from Denver, and has been placed behind the bar and adds greatly to the appearance of the saloon.”

Susan’s brother, Rueben Sanford Ball, went to work for and with his sister in 1891. Susan C. Wright died in March of 1893 after ailing for about a year. She willed her real estate and personal property to her brother. Under Ball’s ownership the new Meeker Hotel and Café was constructed in 1896 at the location of the present historic Meeker Hotel. Eight years later, in 1904, the east and west wings were added. At one time the ground floor of the east wing housed Strehlke Bros. Drug Store, Dr. Bruner’s office and the Colorado Telephone Co. Today, the dining room of the Café is there.

The stone building, which currently houses the Meeker Café, was originally called the Vorges Bldg. And opened for business on May 9, 1891 as Meeker’s new Post Office building. In 1904, it became the 1st National Bank Building and in 1918, Rueben S. Ball moved the café out of the hotel to its present location. In the spring of 1923, the Ball family transferred ownership to Clarence P. and Lucille Mathis, and it has been evolving ever since.