The building originally housed the Marion State and Savings Bank on the ground floor and had professional offices on the remaining four floors. When the bank failed in 1930, its new owner Harry Norman, Marguerite’s father, decided to convert the top three floors into a hotel.
Towering about 80 feet into the air, at one time the five story building was the tallest in the county.
Marguerite said operating the hotel was one of the most interesting jobs in town during the many years that she and her husband, James T. Cagle, were involved in the hotel business in the 1950’s and 60’s.
The sleek canopy that extended from the building to the curb and the flashing neon hotel sign affixed to the corner above the street were welcome beacons to weary travelers.
Her guests consisted of overnight guests who were just passing through town to some well-known celebrities. “A.J. Foyt and his boys stayed here for two years in a row,” Marguerite said of the famous race driver. She said Foyt and his crew of about eight men stayed at the hotel when he came to the area to race at the DuQuoin State Fair.
“And we kept Brenda Lee for two night, but nobody knew who she was because she registered under a different name,” Marguerite remembered of the tiny singer’s stay at the hotel during the 1960’s. Lee, too, had come to perform at the DuQuoin State Fair.
The hotel also was the home away from home for men who would play in the annual pool tournament at the Showbar in Johnston City where the famed Minnesota Fats used to play.
“It was one of the most luxurious hotels in Southern Illinois,” said John Anderson, the owner of the building in 1990, who had purchased the building in 1975. After buying the building, Anderson changed its name to the Citadel “because citadel means fortress, and structurally the building is built like a fortress,” he said of the concrete floors and ceilings.
The building’s facade is made of terra cotta, which is a glazed clay product similar to brick. The glazed tile columns are stacked like the old Greek structures, Anderson said, which makes the building’s architecture unique in these modern times.
Marguerite said, “I remember one time a man put a pole on top of the building and sat up there for three weeks.” There was an apparent pole sitting craze in the early 1920’s when she was about 9 years old. “People came here from everywhere to see him,” she said.
Although the Marion State and Savings Bank went bust in the Depression, its demise was a boon for Marguerite whose father purchased the building along with three other investors, Harry Norman, who was a builder and was in the lumber business, was the one who decided to convert the top three floors into hotel rooms.
“In the 1930s, this place was considered a palace because each room had a private bath,” said Anderson of Norman’s adroitness in designing the hotel rooms.
After the other owners died, Marguerite’s father and mother were the sole owners and continued to maintain the building and operate the hotel.
In its heyday, the hotel had everything the guests needed, right in one building. For many years a combination barbershop and bathhouse located in the back of the ground floor catered to coal miners and railroad workers who stayed at the hotel. There was also a restaurant, and later, when the Cagles operated it, there was a beauty shop and a jewelry store inside.
And Prince, the black man who operated a shoeshine stand in the lobby for many years, was a friendly fixture at the hotel to visitors and city dwellers alike.
The old elevator that hoisted folks up and down the tall building still works today. Marguerite remembers the day in 1968 that an earthquake rattled through Marion because she was in the elevator at the time. “It shook a little bit inside, but it was a large elevator so it didn’t shake too bad. I was the last one to get out of the building though,” she said.
Marguerite and James loved the hotel business. It gave them a chance to make a new friend every day, even though it meant working long hours.
But times change and progress took its toll on the Gibraltar-like building. Marguerite said because of her husband’s failing health and the expense it took to operate the hotel, the couple decided to sell it around 1970.
When she closed it, Marguerite auctioned off the furnishings that she had hand-picked for the hotel to give it that homey feel. But she kept the memories.
“This was quite a place on the square. You don’t know what’s going on unless you’re uptown all the time. We knew just about everyone up there,” she said with a touch of sadness in her voice.
Editors Note: This building is referenced in Historical Architecture of Marion . Prior to this building, the location was occupied by a three story structure belonging to J. B. Bainbridge. That building was demolished to make way for the bank building. Over the years, the building has housed numerous businesses including Tony’s Steak House in the 1960’s and 70’s, owned by Tony Castellano.
(Article written by Cindy Lee and was originally printed in the Marion Daily Republican and reprinted in the 1989 Sesquicentennial Book; photos from Mike Ward Collection, Sesquicentennial History, Williamson County Historical Society and Ron Emery)