Central Hotel

The Belton Woman’s Commonwealth, more commonly called the Sanctified Sisters, was a predominately women’s religious group established by Martha McWhirter in Belton during the Reconstruction era. The response to McWhirter’s group of women from the citizens of Belton evolved over time. The group met a negative and violent response in the beginning. As the women gained in numbers and financial viability the community warmed to the women. The people of Belton came full circle once McWhirter and the sisters held large land holdings and exerted influence in the business community.

The Central Hotel was owned and operated by the Woman’s Commonwealth of Belton from 1886 to 1901. The idea of opening a hotel in Belton was not the intention of the Sisterhood in the beginning. Because the Sisters practiced celibacy, a few angry husbands divorced their sanctified wives. In order to maintain an independent lifestyle, the Commonwealth members depended on one another and earned their own money by selling milk, butter, eggs, and lumber. Also during the 1870s, two members of the commune worked at a hotel in nearby Temple and learned how to properly run and manage a hotel. One of the members, Margaret Henry, inherited her late husband’s home and opened it to boarders. The Sisterhood saw this home and the surrounding land as the best spot to develop a new establishment. The Sisterhood bought the city block on which the Henry home was built. With this property and the money saved from the small businesses, expansions to the Henry home and construction for a new building and laundry began in 1883. The Central Hotel opened its doors on May 10, 1886. During the first year of operation, Belton citizens attempted to discourage hotel patrons. 

The Sisterhood divided responsibilities of the house and hotel evenly amongst the members. In order to operate the hotel, jobs rotated between the members every few weeks. The jobs included cooking, serving in the dining room, laundry, cleaning rooms, washing dishes and entertaining guests by playing the piano and reading poetry. A menu from Christmas day of 1893 displays the quality of food served. The Central Hotel served beef, turkey, a variety of vegetables, multiple types of bread, three types of desserts, fruits, and coffee. The hotel continued to gain recognition for its service throughout Texas, and it soon became the Sisterhood’s most profitable enterprise. By 1891, the Central Hotel’s success warranted the need to combine their business endeavors into one. The Sisterhood created a corporation named the Central Hotel Company to hold the hotel’s property, which also included the small laundry. Twenty four women, all members of the commune, gained shares of the capital stock in the company. 

 Due to the financial success of the Central Hotel and other properties and farms, the Sisterhood donated money to various institutions in Belton. The Commonwealth donated five hundred dollars to the railroad, one hundred dollars to an opera house in Belton, and the Central Hotel was the home of the first public library in Belton. After seeing the need for a public library building, Martha McWhirter petitioned Andrew Carnegie for a donation to the cause. Carnegie consented and donated ten thousand dollars. The Carnegie library was built across the street from the Central Hotel. These generous acts made the Woman’s Commonwealth more well-known and promoted the hotel business as a whole. 

 In spite of the hotel’s triumphs, the Sisters decided in 1898 or 1899 to retire from business and move to Washington, D.C., so that they might pursue their growing interest in cultural activities. Using their savings of perhaps as much as $200,000, they bought a house in Mount Pleasant, Maryland. In Washington, where they incorporated in 1902 as the Woman's Commonwealth of Washington, D.C.

The Central Hotel was sold in February 1901 to S.F. Speer for over seventeen-thousand dollars. The economic boon provided by the Central Hotel made Belton citizens sad to see the Sisters leave their town.

The Woman's Commonwealth of Belton. June 28, 2012. https://dchrisman.weebly.com/