PERRY, Iowa - "When you drink from the well, remember the well digger."
The words from a Chinese proverb top the 257-seat banquet room at Hotel Pattee, now considered one of the finest hotels in the Midwest.
The words could have come directly from Roberta Green Ahmanson, a woman who remembered well diggers, railroad workers, country school teachers and musicians who built her hometown here. Ahmanson remembered them all right - to the tune of $10 million.
The real cost? Priceless.
Ahmanson is the force behind what might be the grandest singular development among Iowa small towns in the past decade. The famed Hotel Pattee, built in 1913, was vacated in the 1980s. It was to be sold for back taxes in the early 1990s when Ahmanson bought the structure for $30,000.
She did so against a friend's advice.
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She did much more. She breathed new life into Hotel Pattee. In turn, her investment shed light on Perry.
To California and back
Roberta Green Ahmanson was raised in Perry, a railroad community located about 40 miles northwest of Des Moines. She was graduated from Perry High in 1967. A notable achievement: She served as editor for the school newspaper, The Telital (as in Tell It All).
She went on to teach and write for newspapers. She married Howard Ahmanson, whose family had come from Omaha to build a fortune, operating one of California's largest financial institutions. The Ahmansons spread their wealth through hundreds of educational and charitable projects through the years. The law school at Creighton University, after all, is named for them.
Roberta Green Ahmanson remembered Hotel Pattee as a social center for the community. The structure, built by the sons of David Jackson Pattee in 1913, was erected and furnished at a cost of $150,000. Two years later the city of Perry worked with the hotel in producing a brochure to tell the world of the wonder in this central Iowa community. Leaders wanted travelers, workers and businesses to make Perry their destination.
Eight decades later the facility housed a bar, a few apartments and was about to fall apart.
It was breaking Ahmanson's heart.
So she stepped in, offered a reported $30,000 for the facility and began planning its restoration. Ahmanson didn't focus solely on brick and mortar. The rich history of agriculture, immigration, the railroad, education and culture guided her as she devised - and implemented with immaculate detail - themes for 40 spacious rooms.
Again, priceless. Some examples:
The Louis Armstrong Suite features a king-size wrought-iron bed, French Quarter decor and an ornate fireplace. The suite honors Armstrong, Hotel Pattee's most famous guest.
The Angus and Moran Room celebrates immigrants from Wales and Cornwall who came to work the mines in these Iowa communities near Perry a century ago. Both towns died when the mines closed.
The Marching Band Room has a collection of instruments (the headboard and lights are horns) that has guests humming their school's fight song. Marching bands, after all, are a grand Iowa tradition cemented in the hit musical "Music Man" by Mason City native Meredith Willson.
The Needlework Room features two queen beds and all the needle and thread you need to make something beautiful for a cold winter night.
The Dutch Room showcases Iowa's Dutch ancestry found in places like Pella, Sioux Center and Orange City. Dutch immigrants built those Iowa towns, and a few of them settled in Perry.
The V.T. "Snick" Hamlin Room honors the "Alley Oop" cartoon creator, a native of Perry who started at the local newspaper, the Perry Daily Chief. "Alley Oop" panels decorate this room.
The Telital Room reveals how the Perry High school paper anchored the back page of the Perry Daily Chief each Saturday for years. The room actually honors all kinds of local newspapers, especially those who keep their standards high, thus fostering vitality among small towns.
The Amana Colonies Room examines the immigrants who came from Germany and settled in what has become Iowa's largest tourist attraction. Those of the Amanas are known for making fine wine and furniture while growing crops.
The Bohemian Room salutes composer Anton Dvorak, who spent the summer of 1893 in Spillville, Iowa, while completing work on his "New World Symphony."
The Russian Room covers the 1950s visit by Premier Nikita Khrushchev to Roswell Garst's farm in Carroll County. Khrushchev passed through Perry on this historic Cold War trek. Today Iowa is a sister state to Stavropol.
The Southeast Asian Room details the "boat people" - those immigrants from Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries who fled Communist oppression in the mid 1970s and were welcomed with open arms by Iowa Gov. Robert Ray and thousands across the state.
The Alton School Room celebrates all who learn and all who teach. The room takes its name and decor from Alton School, a one-room schoolhouse that operated for decades on the edge of Perry.
The Irish Room is a toast to immigrants from Ireland who helped build railroads that connected the U.S. from coast to coast. The grandfather of Hotel Pattee originator David Jackson Pattee came from Ireland.
The Betty Mae Harris Studio honors Harris, who taught dance for 37 years at the back of the second floor at Hotel Pattee. The room brings back that studio, its time and grace of dance.
Each room has a spacious bathroom, many with spas. Views are to a sculpture garden created by Iowa artists Karen Strohbeen and Bill Luchsinger; or to the work by Storm Lake, Iowa, artist Mac Hornecker. His prairie markers are sculptures that remember stones farmers once used to mark their land.
Bowling and Babe Ruth
Guests may bowl while staying at Hotel Pattee as the lower level consists of a two-lane automatic bowling alley. The alley is named for Arthur "Oley" Olson, a Perry resident who finished second in the American Bowling Congress national tournament in 1926. The alley is original as Hotel Pattee included the structure when it opened in 1913, attempting to offer the latest at the time in fitness and recreation.
Photos of famous Dallas County athletes, including Van Meter, Iowa, native Bob Feller line the walls of the alley, as does a photo of Babe Ruth, who once barnstormed through Perry to play ball.
Next to the bowling alley are a fitness room and health spa.
The hotel lobby recreates the 1913 feel with Persian rugs, terra cotta tile floor and replicas of the original chandeliers. Major works of art from 30 regional artists set an elegant, yet creative tone. The lobby gives way to the Willis Library, which, like the rest of the structure, is decorated in the Arts and Crafts style utilizing earth tones and dark wood. The library, which is named for Perry founder Harvey Willis, contains hundreds of works by Iowa authors.
Wandering through its nooks and crannies one realizes the Hotel Pattee is actually a museum that offers "elegance within reach" in its lodging.
Ahmanson said she knew she'd never recover her initial $10 million investment. She has said, though, that Hotel Pattee was expected to operate profitably after it opened. It has.
Since its opening in 1997, Hotel Pattee has hosted hundreds of wedding receptions, more than 2,000 business meetings and has served a half million meals. Guests from all over the world have stayed here in the past six years.
The traffic also enabled an adjoining gift shop to open, and has spurred addition renovation and development downtown.
A videotape of Ahmanson was played to welcome a tour group, which visited Hotel Pattee recently. The tape noted that several rural pockets like Perry have experienced population growth for the first time in decades as folks from major metro areas "escape" to the Heartland.
For Ahmanson, who appears on the tape, Hotel Pattee is but a small component of the complete picture. And Hotel Pattee's staff, she says, is just doing what Perry residents have done for decades: Make folks feel at home.
"When I grew up in Perry, Iowa, one of the best things that could be said about you was that you 'were downright hospitable.'
"We want the Hotel Pattee to be known as a place that's downright hospitable."
The Hotel Pattee is located at 1112 Willis Avenue in Perry, Iowa. For information, call 1-888-424-4268 or visit its Web site at http://www.hotelpattee.com .
