The Potter-Wright Building's New Life as Hotel Garber
Rehabilitation is underway and fundraising in the home stretch for the Potter-Wright Building's rehabilitation into Hotel Garber. The 1902 structure has been vacant for more than twenty years, and when complete, the rehabilitation project will return the building to its original splendor. A third flood that was lost to fire in 1961 was reconstructed in 2023, helping to increase the space from 16,500 square feet to a 22,500-square-foot facility.
The design will include a 27-room boutique hotel, meeting space, lounge, catering facilities, and a small library. Decor will serve a decorative and educational purpose, with curated selections featuring historic imagery of Red Cloud through the years.
In addition to aligning with our commitment to historic preservation, the property will help achieve tourism development and downtown revitalization goals. When conjoined to our Farmers and Merchants Bank next door, the two buildings will share an elevator to provide visitors with full access to our new permanent exhibit, Making a Place: A Long History of Red Cloud, about the history of the community and its intersections with Willa Cather’s life and art.
The facility will help achieve downtown revitalization goals, and increase tourism development by providing much-needed lodging for guests and expanded meeting facilities for events and retreats. It will allow our visitors to the National Willa Cather Center to stay longer to enjoy the museum, the historic sites, the town, the Cather Prairie, and other scenic places Cather loved. An independent market feasibility study concluded that the market could support an additional 30-room lodging establishment.
Fundraising Goals
The project is a key priority for the National Willa Cather Center’s Campaign for the Future and Red Cloud’s Heritage Tourism Development Office, which launched in 2015 through a collaboration between the National Willa Cather Center, City of Red Cloud, Chamber of Commerce, and Red Cloud Community Fund (an affiliated fund of the Nebraska Community Foundation). Over $5 million in donations, grants, and investments have been secured. Paired with up to $1 million in Nebraska Historic Tax Credits, total funds secured from all sources is over $6 million.
The project has been a key priority of our Campaign for the Future and Red Cloud’s Heritage Tourism Development Office, which was established in 2015 through a collaboration between the National Willa Cather Center, City of Red Cloud, Chamber of Commerce, and Red Cloud Community Fund of the Nebraska Community Foundation.
A $500,000 challenge grant to complete the fundraising has been offered and needs to be matched 2:1. Please consider supporting the project with a charitable gift. All gifts of $1,000 or more will be recognized on a donor wall, and pledges are payable over a five-year period.
What's in a Name?
The hotel’s name is a nod to Silas Garber, a founder of Red Cloud and the third elected Governor of Nebraska. Silas and Lyra Garber were the prototypes for Mrs. and Captain Forrester in Willa Cather’s A Lost Lady. When conjoined to the National Willa Cather Center’s newly restored Farmers and Merchants Bank next door, the two buildings will share an elevator to provide access to exhibit areas that highlight important milestones in Red Cloud’s history, the role of banking and finance in town-building during the late 19th Century, and the Garbers connections to Willa Cather’s life and writing.
The new permanent exhibit Making a Place: A Long History of Red Cloud opened March 1, 2024.
Tax-Deductible Contributions, Pledges, and Securities
Gifts of any and all sizes are welcome through charitable contributions made directly to our project partner, the Willa Cather Foundation, as part of its Campaign for the Future. Gifts to the campaign are tax-deductible, and all gifts designated specifically for this project will be invested by the Willa Cather Foundation into Red Cloud Hotel LLC. Commitments to the campaign are payable over a 5-year period, and can be made in a variety of ways:
PLEDGE: Make a gift to the campaign, payable in a lump sum, or pledged over a five-year giving period. Payments can be made monthly, quarterly, annually, or structured according to your preferred schedule. You can satisfy your pledge through payments by check, direct deposit, or credit card.
GIFT OF SECURITIES: Gifts of appreciated assets, such as stock with a very low basis, make excellent charitable gifts. By donating your stock, you avoid costly gains and can significantly help this project at the same time. Your stock is gladly accepted as a gift to our campaign. We will be happy to assist you in transferring assets to complete your gift.
Naming Recognition Opportunities for Charitable Gifts
| Donation Level | Space | Donor or Tribute |
| $500,000 | Hotel Lounge/Dining | In memory of Daniel Gibbon Norris |
| $250,000 | Hotel Lobby | |
| $100,000 | Lower Level Event Space | |
| Catering Kitchen | ||
| Hotel Rooms (27 total; 22 remain) | In memory of Katherine Norris Buffett | |
| In memory of Frederick Buffett | ||
| In memory of Fred C. Buffett | ||
| In honor of William Norris Buffett | ||
| In memory of Mildred McCall | ||
| In memory of Dr. Patricia Arneson | ||
| Ana McCracken | ||
| $50,000 | Hotel Business Center | |
| Hotel Bar & Breakfast Nook | Rick and Barb Kudrna & Family | |
| Hotel Vestibule | ||
| Bookshelves in Hotel Lobby | Ana McCracken | |
| $25,000 | Hotel Manager's Office | |
| Hotel Elevator | Gottsch Cattle Company | |
| Hotel Check-in Desk | In memory of Charles R. and Jennie Potter | |
| Basement Entry Stairwell | John Thompson & Gary Thompson | |
| Northeast Entry Stairwell | ||
| Front Entry Staircase | Heritage Bank | |
| $10,000 | Back Bar in Lounge | Dennis & Sally Hansen |
| Visitor Information Station | John A (Jay) Yost & G. Wade Leak | |
| $5,000 | Dining Tables in Lounge | |
| $2,500 | Framed Photography & Art |
All donations of $1,000 or more will receive recognition on a donor wall inside Hotel Garber. A $2,500 donation will receive recognition on framed artwork and photography displayed throughout the building.
Construction Updates
Additional facade work will be ongoing in Spring 2024. Interior framing and drywall work is now underway, along with rough-in for plumbing, electrical, and mechanical equipment.
Planning for this rehabilitation effort began as early as 2018. Basement excavation and underpinning that was completed in 2020 prepared the historic building to support the return of a third floor that was lost to fire in 1961. In Fall 2023, the third floor was be rebuilt and other exterior improvements became more visible.
The final phase of construction is scheduled to be complete in 2024.
More About The Hotel Experience
This project aligns with our mission to advance Willa Cather's legacy through historic preservation. It will result in the adaptive reuse of a dilapidated downtown building into a 28-room one-of-a-kind hotel. A spacious lounge area on the first floor will be visible from the intersections of Highways 281 and 136, adding life and vibrancy to downtown Red Cloud. A street-level stairwell will be restored for basement entry into a modern meeting space that can accommodate more than sixty guests.
Memorable guest rooms will spotlight artwork featuring historic Red Cloud, while the public areas will exhibit objects from the town’s rich history. Additional space in the lower level will accommodate expanded meeting and event space.
Project Partners and Collaborators:
