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Throwback Thursday: Old Block Hotel on Madison Avenue
By Eric D Tudor
Long before Madison Manor stood on the corner of Madison Avenue and 2nd Street, there was a crumbling old building that locals knew as the Block Hotel. If you lived in Lebanon in the early 90s, you might remember it as a vacant, worn down block structure that had clearly seen better days. In 1991, it came down in a controlled burn led by the Lebanon Fire Department as part of a training exercise. Two nearby homes that had also fallen into disrepair were cleared at the same time, making way for the senior living complex we see today.
But the Block Hotel’s story stretches much farther back, and not all of it is well documented. Most long time residents agree that the building operated as a hotel or boarding house for at least half a century. Some say it might have been closer to 70 years. What we do know is that a devastating fire broke out there on Christmas Eve in 1972. Edward Daniel Williams, 80 years old, lost his life to smoke inhalation in an upstairs apartment. Another resident, Hobert W. Heiner, known around town as “The Colonel,” was badly burned and eventually transferred to the University of Missouri Medical Center in Columbia for treatment. Others, including Charles A. Martin, managed to escape with help from volunteers. The hotel never reopened after the fire, though it continued to be used as a private residence for a short time.
There is another tragic story tied to the building. While no official records have been found, several locals recall that a young girl once fell to her death from an upstairs window after the structure had been abandoned.
The final chapter of the Block Hotel began in 1980, when businessman Ian Joel Knight, better known as Joe Knight, purchased the building. Joe Knight was a familiar name downtown, best known for his drugstore on the corner of Madison and Commercial where Mel’s on Madison now stands. But his business ventures did not stop there. He was also connected to the old Union Bus Depot where Walgreens is today, and he operated restaurants and retail spaces throughout his career. After retiring in 1977, Knight used the upper floors of the Block Hotel to store old stock from his drugstore, including thousands of glass medical bottles and advertising signs. He passed away in 1987 at the age of 90.
In its final years, the building served as the Jaycees’ Halloween haunted house, a fittingly eerie ending for a structure with such a storied past. Today, the Block Hotel is gone, but for many in Lebanon, the memories it left behind still linger.
Being part of downtown means remembering where we came from. It means honoring the stories, both joyful and painful, that shaped this place into the community we know today.
