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Memories of the nearly century-old Fort Steuben Hotel

SIGN FROM THE PAST — A Fort Steuben Hotel sign that once graced the front of the 97-year-old building on North Fourth Street sits in a basement room of the former hotel.

STEUBENVILLE –The Fort Steuben Hotel was considered the largest and most elegant when it was constructed in 1920.

More than 700 people attended the ball and banquet celebrating the opening of the new hotel on Dec. 28, 1920.

“Never in the history of the city has there been such a representative gathering of our citizenship under one roof or such a manifestation of social fraternity. The event must be recorded as social triumph, marking a new epoch in the society life of the city and augers well for the future and lasting success of the Fort Steuben,” cited the Herald-Star.

When Dean Martin returned to his hometown in October 1950 with Jerry Lewis, the hotel hosted a press and radio luncheon. Later that night a testimonial dinner for Martin and Lewis was held in the ballroom at the hotel.

By the 1980s the hotel was converted to senior citizen and disabled housing, with grand opening ceremonies attended by U.S. Rep. Douglas Applegate, Bishop Albert Ottenweller and Mayor David Hindman.

The building later was purchased and converted into Section 8 low-income housing.

But the ballroom has since been used for wedding receptions, senior class photo backgrounds and other social events as well as occasional meetings.

A number of city residents still remember the days when the Fort Steuben Hotel was the place to go for lunch, dinner or an event in the ballroom.

“I was 16 years old when I was offered a job by Mrs. Henderson, the hotel manager, to run the elevator. In those days it was operated by someone manually running the elevator. It took some skill because you had to line up the elevator door with the floor. I met a lot of people doing that job, including Dean Martin and his mother,” recalled retired Steubenville educator Patricia Fletcher.

“This was a great place in those days and it is still a beautiful place,” Fletcher added.

John Lusher’s father, Barney, was the manager of the Fort Steuben Hotel Grill where he served as head bartender.

“He had four or five bartenders who worked for him during his 24 years at the Gill Room. He started there right after World War II. He later worked at several other locations but he always said his favorite place to work was the Fort Steuben Hotel,” John Lusher recalled.

“Best darn bartender in town,” said Steubenville 1st Ward Councilman Gerald DiLoreto, who recalled when Louis Armstrong and Bobby Vinton performed in the ballroom.

“This was a very professional place. This was a class place, it was all class. Every man wore at least a sports jacket and a tie when they came to the Grill Room,” John Lusher said.

“Lou Berkman owned the hotel in those days. People would come to the Grill for a nice dinner and drinks. The head chef in those days was Frank Sgro, who later opened a restaurant on Campbell’s Run near Pittsburgh with his brother,” said John Lusher.

“I worked as a busboy here in 1964 and 1965. In those days there were a lot of Italian, Greek and Jewish wedding receptions in the ballroom. This was a very busy place in those days,” noted Lusher.

“I worked in the ballroom area. The busboys would go downstairs to the kitchen and put the dinner plates, covered with a metal top, on carts and roll them to the elevator and then take them upstairs. We handed them off to the waitresses who would put a towel over their arm and carry several dinners at once into the ballroom,” he said.

“My starting wage in those days was 79 cents an hour, but the tips made the job worth it. If it was a large wedding reception they would be required to leave a $100 tip that was divided up between the waitresses and bellboys. So we would each get our salary and a $10 tip,” laughed Lusher.

He also remembered when he was 10 years old and his father took him to the hotel repair shop located in a shanty on the hotel roof.

“The repairman was Eddie and he had a helper and his job was to repair or reupholster the hotel furniture. I can recall Eddie putting all these furniture tacks in his mouth. He would pull them out one at a time to nail into the chair or couch. I was always amazed he could work so fast and never swallow one,” Lusher said.

“There were several bellboys, and the lead bellboys were Jules and Frank Sfarrella. They were there when Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis came to town and stayed at the hotel,” Lusher noted.

“I still remember how nice the Grill Room was. And there was the barbershop in the basement of the hotel with all white tile and nearby a shoeshine stand was set up,” said Lusher.

MaryAnn Tegano of Steubenville worked as a switchboard operator on the main floor of the hotel from 1963 until 1965.

“The hotel was such a nice place. We had guests from all over the place stay there. The place was popping in those days. We had the Grill Room downstairs and a formal dining room upstairs that was always immaculate with the white linen table cloths and napkins. It was the place for our guests and local professional people as well as attorneys and judges to meet for lunch or dinner,” Tegano commented.

“My job was to answer incoming calls and to give guests an outside line. Or to transfer calls from one room to another. We had three cashiers who worked steady shifts. I remember Mary Kelly because she worked the midnight shift and did everything,” Tegano said.

“In those days the College of Steubenville was still downtown and we had a lot of the college students come to the Grill Room,” she said.

One of those students was DiLoreto, who can still remember the dinners in the ballroom, including the early Founders’ Day dinners.

“We also had an annual dinner to honor the college basketball team because it was a well known small college team back then. We always tried to get a big sports name to come in to address the dinner,” DiLoreto remarked.

“I met Coach Abe Bryan in the Grill Room one night. He was having dinner with his wife and had just been offered an assistant coaching job at the University of Notre Dame. I approached him and encouraged him to take the job because I already had two season tickets at that time, but was looking for two more. But Coach Bryan said he was going to turn it down because he had several children and didn’t want to leave Steubenville,” related DiLoreto.

The memories of the hotel ballroom for Harry Thomas included, “lugging boxes over here for weddings and events for my dad when he owned McCauslen’s Florist. My job was to bring everything and to do the decorations,” said Thomas who now owns McCauslen’s Florist with his wife, Pam.

(Gossett can be contacted at dgossett@heraldstaronline.com.)

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