  Although upon a summer day, You’ll lightly turn from me away, When autumn leaves are scattered wide, You’ll often linger by my side. But when the snow the earth doth cover, Then you will be my ardent lover. This homely verse, carved in stone above the fireplace in the spacious lobby of the Crescent Hotel, is a reminder that comfort is an outstanding feature in a hotel. In this “Castle in the Air High Atop the Ozarks” we find comfort combined with convenience in a big way. This magnificent hostelry requires but little introduction to people familiar with Summer Resorts. It stands on a high point overlooking Eureka Springs and the view from the Lookout, a-top the hotel, is one of the finest in the Ozarks. The Crescent is a five story stone, fire-proof building with twenty-seven acres of grounds. It represents an investment of over $300,000 in 1884-1886 and would cost three or four times that amount to build it today. It has large rooms, wide verandas, and sun parlors and can easily accommodate two hundred and fifty guests. It is equipped with swimming pool, tennis courts, shuffle board, horseshoe courts, bowling alley, pool and billiard tables, recreational rooms, and provides scenic bus trips, horseback riding, hay-rides, barbecues, wiener roasts, and dancing for the entertainment of guests. The food served in the dining room has been famous for more than half a century. The Crescent is popular with both convention groups and the general public. The Crescent Hotel was erected by the Eureka Improvement Company in 1884-1886. The board of directors was composed of Powell Clayton, R. C. Kerens, C. W. Rogers, Logan H. Roots, John O’Day, James Dunn, B. Baker and D. A. Nichols. Powell Clayton was president of the company, Logan H. Roots, treasurer and H. Foote, secretary. Isaac S. Taylor was the architect. It had its grand opening May 1, 1886. In 1902 when the Frisco Railroad took it over it was remodeled with Guy Crandall Morimer as architect. Some of the board of directors of the Crescent Hotel Company were stockholders in the Frisco Railroad and it was probably through their influence that the Frisco leased the hotel in 1902 for a period of five years. One of the conditions of the lease was that at least $50,000 be spent on furnishings and improvements. This was done and the hotel was widely advertised by the railroad company. During the first twenty-two years of its existence, the Crescent was operated as a year-round hotel but in 1908 the Crescent College for girls was organized and the building became a school from September until June and continued as a hotel during the three summer months. A. S. Maddox was the first president of the college. R. R. (Dick) Thompson became president in 1910 and continued in this capacity until the middle twenties. The institution was then taken over by Claude Fuller, Albert Ingalls and W. T. Patterson and operated for a few years. A. Q. Burns became president of the college in 1929 and served for three or four years. The college was closed permanently in 1933. In 1936 the property was sold to Norman Baker who turned it into a hospital. This institution lasted about two years and when it folded up the building remained vacant until 1946. In the spring of that year it was bought by four Chicago men—John R. Constantine, Herbert E. Shutter, Herbert A. Byfield, and Dwight Nichols. It was reopened July 4, 1946 with Mr. Nichols as manager. The Crescent Hotel now specializes in “package tours” from Chicago and other cities and remains open from April 1 to December 1. It is again associated with the Frisco Railroad for most of the guests come to Monett, Missouri by train and are transported by Crescent buses through the scenic hills to Eureka Springs. The regular “package” tour is of six days duration and provides room, meals and entertainment. We wonder why this hotel was named “The Crescent.” The word, crescent, refers to the shape of the increasing or new moon when it is receding from the sun. It is often used as an emblem of progress and success. The symbol was popular in heraldry and was used by at least three orders of knighthood, first instituted by Charles I of Naples and Sicily in 1268; the second instituted at Angiers by Rene of Anjou in 1464; the third instituted by Selim, Sultan of Turkey in 1801 in honor of Lord Nelson. It is both a religious and military emblem of the Ottoman Turks. In architecture, the word refers to a range of buildings in the form of a crescent or half-moon. Some of the stone work of the Crescent Hotel is in the form of a crescent and this may have given the building its name. Personally, we like to think of it as an emblem of progress and success in the hotel world. |
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