The Kirby House Hotel - Part 1
In 1871, Thomas Kirby built a hotel.
Kirby was born in Massachusetts in 1804. After attending school and working in a woolen mill, Kirby came west to Wayne County, Indiana in 1827, and began trading in furs, skins and ginseng, a popular native plant. He began peddling goods on foot, then on horseback and from a horse-drawn wagon. He also opened a general store on Washington Street, west of High Street in Muncie. He was a successful businessman, a township trustee and a builder. A true pioneer. One thing he wasn’t: a hotelkeeper.
The Kirby House was located on the southwest corner of Main and Jefferson Streets, on land that was once home to Joseph Anthony’s tavern. In January 1872, the hotel was opened under the management of W. D. Jones. The three-story brick structure, which had a mansard roof and a balcony which stretched across the front of the hotel providing a view of Main Street, was purchased by Thomas Kirby’s son-in-law, Julius A. Heinsohn, in 1873.
The new owner wanted the Kirby House to be a first-class hotel and constantly strove to make the improvements necessary to achieve that lofty status. Visitors could avail themselves of reading rooms, sample rooms, a saloon with the finest imported and domestic wines and liquors, and a new billiard parlor. On the second floor, there was a first-class kitchen and a large dining room. Below that was a laundry. An electric annunciator connected the rooms and a horse-drawn omnibus ran regular trips from trains to the hotel for the convenience of guests. And by 1880, the hotel was added to the telephone exchange, which was just in the process of being established in Muncie. All this for just $2.00 a night.
During the Gas Boom Era, the Kirby House Hotel was the place where gentlemen gathered to talk business and make deals. Amidst the cigar smoke, you could exchange opinions, buy land, make a bet, impress potential buyers or just chew the fat. Because of its popularity, it was not uncommon for the hotel to be unable to accommodate all the guests seeking rooms.
In 1886, Frank C. Ball set out to find a new site for the Ball Brothers glass factory, which at that time was located in Buffalo, New York. After visiting several towns in Ohio, he decided to visit Muncie, even though he’d never heard of the place and had no idea where it was located. He recorded his first impressions of the town in his autobiography, Memoirs of Frank Clayton Ball: “Arriving in Muncie I rode to the Kirby House in the village bus (by the way, the only bus in town) and registered. The congenial landlord, Mr. Heinsohn, greeted me cordially.”
From the time Frank, Edmund and George Ball came to Muncie until they married, the brothers boarded at the Kirby House Hotel. As the old adage goes, never underestimate the importance of a good first impression.
Keep your eye out for part 2…coming soon!
