The hotel was also a gas station and garage, and was owned by Pierce Petroleum Company, a subsidiary of Standard Oil.

Initially the hotel and garage complex was to be one of several along U.S. Hwy 40, each to be spaced about 150 miles apart from New York to San Francisco.

[2] Senator Harry S. Truman was staying at the hotel when he learned of the Attack on Pearl Harbor, heralding the United States entry in World War II.

[3] During World War II the building was used by Stephens College to train women aviators.

This article about a property in Boone County, Missouri on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub.