10/04/2024
Who is the man whose name sits atop the Noble House building?
We now know more after a visit from Laura C. and David R. from Brooklyn, New York last week. Laura has Abe Bills in her family tree! Here is a bit of her research that I will share with you.
Abe was born in rural New York in a tiny village of Apalachin, in the town of Owego on June 4th, 1863.
Abe moved to Watonga in 1899 with his parents, his wife, Christa and their baby girl, Oretta. He bought block 48, Lot 7 in May, 1900. A wood frame building set on this lot. The Watonga Republican was in that building for only one year which was 1893. This became Abe’s barber shop.
Abe bought property on 2nd Street (present day ‘B’ Street). He also bought a house in the southwest part of town. Note: “town” at that time was only 4-corners north to 4th Street and East to Laing. In 1905 he bought a 5 acre tract in the McCoy addition west of the Choctaw railroad where he raised alfalfa. The local newspaper referred to him as an authority on alfalfa culture.
He was a hunter and fisherman. The Herald wrote that “he caught 52 fairly good-sized fish one Sunday afternoon.” On another day, the paper reported, “He captured a large white pelican which measured 8 ½’ from tip to tip of its wing span. He had it mounted and displayed in the high school building.”
In June, 1912, Abe announced his plans to build a rooming house, a two-story brick structure, 25’x60’. On September 5th, 1912, the Noble Hotel was open with 17 rooms to rent, excluding bath. The brick on the front of the building was left-over brick from the building of the Blaine County Courthouse.
A newspaper ad on March 12th, 1931 advertised the Noble Hotel as being around the corner from the Convention Hall. It further says ‘try our elevator service to the roof. The view is fine. Dancing at all hours.
After Abe’s death in 1913 and Christina’s death in 1929, Oretta and her husband Clarence Knappenberger operated the hotel. In 1937 they enlarged the hotel which added another 16 rooms.
It was FIRST called the Abe Bills Rooming House. In a 1920 newspaper article, the building was THEN referred to as The Noble Hotel.
It’s now The Noble House which operates as a bed and breakfast with 6 rooms upstairs. Although the restaurant is not open to the public now, The Noble House will feed at special events such as receptions, family dinners and club meetings.
