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Decker Hotel gets an update and refresh
17 Apr 2016
Maquoketa, Downtown, Quality of Life
Maquoketa, Iowa — Mary McAreavy Lewis paused and glanced up the grand staircase, her hand resting on the polished wooden banister.
The Maquoketa native who now lives in Melbourne, Fla., grew up running up and down those stairs and around the historic building’s hallways, chasing after prior hotel owner Jack Wherry’s son and daughter.
“I probably know every inch of this place,” said McAreavy, 66, who returned to Maquoketa earlier this month to attend her mother’s funeral.
She recalled celebrating her parents’ 50th wedding anniversary in the hotel’s banquet room.
“I don’t think there was a bride in Maquoketa who didn’t get her picture taken on the hotel’s staircase,” McAreavy said. “There are three things you think of when you think of Maquoketa — Maquoketa Caves State Park, tenderloins and the Decker Hotel.”
Maquoketa Betterment Corp. purchased the hotel at the end of 2015 as part of multi-year effort to save the historic landmark and update it with modern amenities. Since then, the nonprofit community development group has restored and rejuvenated the hotel’s 17 guest rooms and specialty suites, as well a restaurant and neighborhood pub. (full article…)
*Video Interview here
BY THOMAS J. BARTON, Dubuque Telegraph Herald, April 17, 2016
This copyrighted material is posted with permission of TH Media
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