The Hill House And Marlee

"When I was reading through the book that Sharon gave me called "Polk County Classics" I found your Great Aunt Ann's hotel. I couldn't believe it. It is a wonderful book. It was originally called the Hill House because a couple by the last name of Hill were the original owners. It was huge. They say that it was the second house built in Flemington as far as they
know. It was used as a hotel for folks that came in on the train. They stayed at the Hill house then they rented a rig or buggy at the livery stable and took their produce to lots of little towns around there. You know where some of them are. Urbana and Elkton and Louisburg were some. Isn't it strange to even close your eyes and think of your ancestors living and working here?" She said that because just as she was talking,
they had turned into the road that went to what once was a bustling little town.
Grandma B took over the story telling by telling Marlee and her friend that Ora Brown, her daddy's mama or Marlee's great great grandmother did hair in the hotel. Her Aunt Tincy had showed her a picture of her doing just that years ago. "My Great Aunt Ann did also. Her real name was Anna Quillin Fellers but everyone called her Ann. She is buried here in the Flemington cemetery. Marlee someday I will show you all the records that my friend, Sandy and my cousin got me about your ancestors. I will keep them for you. They will be on line for you also."
Grandma Lu said, "I read that Flemington even had a bandstand right close to your Aunt Ann's hotel, or then the Hill House/Hotel. They had band concerts, but later on they built a band stand that was located in the Flemington Park. Humansville did too. In fact many of these little towns had their own bands."

"Folks in the 1930's dressed in clothes that were so much fun. They wore big hats and long dresses. Often the ladies could be found strolling the grounds of the park in Flemington with their beautiful clothes. Men often used canes because they were stylish, not because they needed them. Those were fun times. However, I sure wouldn't want to climb a ladder or do outside chores in the summer in those long dresses, would you?"
"The Hill House hotel was large enough that I'm sure that there were weddings there as well. That often happened when weddings had a large amount of people that were going to attend because of the space it had."

When they turned into Flemington it made the grandmas sad because it is no longer a busy little town. The original school is gone now, but that book even had a picture of the students inside and outside. Very unusual for that to be done in those days. (1912) Guess what, a Mr. Hill was the school teacher. That is not unusual though. Many folks had several different jobs. I don't know if that is the case or a different family member.

1930-1941

The folks with their own money later on in 1930 built a new school, but because the train wasn't running through Flemington anymore, people moved. There is some discussion about when the train quit running through Flemington. It was probably about thirty years ago or so. Anyway that meant that there weren't enough children to attend school there anymore. They started using it as a community building like we have in Humansville. It has since gotten too old to use anymore.
 People in Humansville have fond memories of Flemington and the good times. They visit about the days of grocery stores, a bank, a blacksmith shop, cafes and many more businesses.
Marlee said, "I'm going to go to school someday, but I'm too little now. But I work too. I sell eggs."
She showed Grandma Lu that she had some eggs in the car to deliver to someone when they got back to town."
As they were driving out of Flemington. Grandma Lu said, "Did you know that this little town is famous? I will tell you all about it. It is so cool. It again, is a missing piece of history for many folks."
Grandma Lu will tell the story of Tom Mix the movie actor in another story.
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In tomorrow's story there will be pictures of the first train and the people that were it's agents. There also are some pictures of the first businesses in Flemington and how they got to be there. I'm sure there were ladies that also sold eggs to the first general stores for spending money to buy things that they needed. I know for sure that like Marlee, their children helped feed and gather the eggs as part of their growing up chores. History continues on through the ages.