Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-11-25
Euit in FuIfillment OF an Ideal and
So Always Con-
Quoted.
INCIDENTS OF SERVICE
Retiring Manager Has Grown Up in
the Business-.-PIans Of I'm.
provements.

y The Harper house, q brief descrip-
ton of the extensive plans fo.' the re-
modelling of which involving an outlay
Of $500 to 100000 was given in last
evenings Argus, has always enjoyed
the proud position of the leading hotel,
not only in the three cities, but in this
entire section of the country 1t was
bnilt so to be 40 years ago by the late
Ben Harper. And how well the origi-
nal owner builded time, though
speedy in it's fight has demonstrated.
For years the Harper reigneG, as
beocon light 10 the traveller IN this
part of the country and as affording
shelter and comfort to the soJourner
on plain second to that offered by
no other hostelry. This was it repu-
tation under the many years that Mr..
Harper personally conducted It. And
that reputation has been maintained
by the Messrs. Montrose and McHugh,
the landlords, who have conducted it
during the longest period since Mr..
Harper's demise
RemOdeIed Ten Years Ago.
Wnen a snort III years ago. the
house was completely overhauled.
neoessitating great expenditures both
by the Harper estate and the Harper
house company, the lessees, and i'm
pfovements made of marked char
acter to meet the demands of ever
Hanging times and conditions, the
nod old Harper was proclaimed the
st along the line between Chicago
4 Denver. And so 1t was.
or has the Harper gone backward
since then. Under the careful man
agement of Charles McHugh, a stud
ent of Mr.. Harper's ideas of conduct
ing a hotel, there has been no retro
gression. But Time, ceaseless and re-
morseless has travelled a more rapid
pace. even than it did in all the years
that Mr.. Harper was mine host. That
is: to say, this entire locality has adj
yanced by greater strides. And Sd
has Rock Island.
And yet the Harper held its own I'M
Til very few years ago. Then of a
sudden Moline woke up in the hotel
line, and the result was the conversion
eff the old Keator house into the mod
ern Manufacturers hotel equipped with
latter day conveniences. that in some
certain respects outrivaled the Har-
Per Davenport came out of the spell
which had enveloped it for years and
brand new hotel bearing the city's
distinguished name sprang into exist
7ence on one of that city's most con-
,spicuous vacant lois. Hardly com
pleted was this when the Kimbal
abandoned to make way for the new
;came back to life. 1t went through
acprocess of renovation that brought
lit up to a par with the new Daven
port, and in the way of modernizatior
went it a few better, showing that the
--latest is always, a trifie at least, the
hest.
The Rivalry That Ensued.
All these inovations in the tri-city
hotel field made the struggle on the
part of the Harper to hold its own, tht
greater. But it has held nevertheless
the prestige go well established ant
maintained. And now it has come Il
the point where it is to make the leaI
once more to the forerank. 1t is tt
have the benefit of the very latest il
hotel Improvements. With the foun
tation so well laid both in physica
construction and steady development
and by no means least, by reason o
location, it is not going to be so diff
fcrlt task TO continue it in the
front rank
While there is no sentiment in ;