‘A five-star hotel in a small community’

“A five-star hotel in a small community” is the theme Hotel Greenfield likes to live by. Since the beginning of this year, Meagan Hubenka has tried to hold that up the best she can as the hotel’s new Operations Manager.

The Hickman, Nebraska native has lived in Greenfield for several years. She’s managed a movie theater, but that’s her only hospitality industry experience. The former school para-educator and coffee barista has enjoyed working in such a historic place so far.

“I’m loving it so far. I feel a part of the community more than I have been because you’re dealing with other businesses, people who travel here, and so it’s being nice to be able to talk to guests about where they’re coming from, what they’re doing,” Hubenka said. “I’m a people person, so that’s really fun. Just because this is a historic building, walking around and seeing the pictures, there’s a lot of history to this building.”

The hotel was built in 1920, not as a money making venture, but as a way to serve the traveling public, the 2001 Adair County Historic book reads. There were 15 local businessmen who invested $3,000 each to finance the hotel.

The dining room, now known as the Mary Wise Room, held 50 people at the start and there was a $25 per plate dinner served when the hotel opened.

The hotel served as the original restaurant owned by John and Joni Galanakis before it became the Olive Branch Family Restaurant next door in the old Adair County Free Press building.

Hubenka said the lobby and all 20 of the rooms are meant to be like they were when the hotel opened, with modern amenities added.

The hotel is often used for weddings because a wedding party can take over the entire building and have an stay that is unique from other hotels.

“We try to keep it very historic here and not too modern,” Hubenka said. “We try to hold onto the character this building had when it was built in the 1920s and still has. We try to preserve the history of the hotel, which you don’t see a lot of anymore.”

Long term guests like business people or construction workers kept the hotel going through the pandemic, but regular guests have largely returned.

“We want the hotel to be a place where people from bigger cities want to come to experience small town living for a night or two,” Hubenka said. “We’re hoping to get more events, too, that we can put on in the Mary Wise Room.”