City Hotel, also known as Seifert's Tavern and the Wheatland Feed Mill, on 214 South Main Street in

Wheatland, Iowa Wheatland is a city in Clinton County, Iowa, United States. The population was 775 at the time of the 2020 census. History Wheatland was platted in 1858 under the leadership of John Bennett. The town was named for President James Buchanan's esta ...

was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

for

Clinton County, Iowa Clinton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 46,460. Its county seat is Clinton. Its name is in honor of the seventh Governor of New York State, DeWitt Clinton. Clinton County compris ...

in 2007.

History

The town of Wheatland was established in 1858 by New York native John L. Bennett to take advantage of the

Chicago & North Western Railway The Chicago and North Western was a Class I railroad in the Midwestern United States. It was also known as the "North Western". The railroad operated more than of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states befor ...

(C&NW) that was being built through southern

Clinton County Clinton County may refer to: *Counties named for George Clinton, first and third Governor of New York, and later the fourth Vice President of the United States: **Clinton County, New York **Clinton County, Ohio *Counties named for DeWitt Clinton, s ...

at the same time. This was the second hotel built on this site near the C&NW depot. It was designed by Antheona Araah, an Italian-born artist/photographer who also was involved in designing and constructing buildings. He was based out of

Oxford Junction, Iowa Oxford Junction is a city in Jones County, Iowa, United States. The population was 424 at the time of the 2020 census. It is part of the Cedar Rapids Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Oxford Junction was platted in 1871, at the time the no ...

in southeastern Jones County. The previous hotel was opened in 1889 in an existing building was re-purposed as a hotel. It was destroyed in a fire on February 7, 1893 that also took several other wooden structures nearby. Work on this building began immediately and it opened for business in September of the same year. The

Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway is the first transcontinental highway in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated October 31, 1913 ...

passed through Wheatland to the north of the railroad tracks in 1915, and the City Hotel was not along its route. As automobiles began to replace train travel the City Hotel's business began to decline. It closed in the late 1920s or early 1930s. After sitting empty for a few years, the Seifert family opened a tavern on the main floor in 1937, and lived in a part of the upstairs. Emil Koch, who owned the tavern across the street, bought the building two years later. It sat empty from 1939 to 1951. The interior of the building was remodeled in 1951 and used as a feed mill until September 1980. From 1980 to 1995 it was used as a warehouse.

Architecture

The City Hotel is a two-story, , rectangular building. The frame structure with an exterior composed of red and yellow brick veneer sits on a yellow, rock-face

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

foundation. The south side of the building faced a small rail yard, no longer extant. However, the main line of what is now the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

still passes to the south, but trains no longer stop in Wheatland. To the north are buildings that sit close to this structure. The yellow brickwork is the primary decorative element on the building. Both

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s feature geometric shapes in that suggest "wings" and radiate from a circular window encircled in yellow brick. It is also used for

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...

s and the

string course A belt course, also called a string course or sill course, is a continuous row or layer of stones or brick set in a wall. Set in line with window sills, it helps to make the horizontal line of the sills visually more prominent. Set between the ...

at the roof.

References

{{NRHP in Clinton County, Iowa Hotel buildings completed in 1893 Buildings and structures in Clinton County, Iowa Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Clinton County, Iowa Victorian architecture in Iowa