Bank wanted Robidoux site for new center | Turning Back

Yes, the old hotel was demolished, in June 1976 in fact, but the urban renewal program had nothing to do with it. The hotel was owned by the American National Bank, which wanted the site for its new Robidoux Center, a proposed five-story bank and office complex. So, the hotel had to go.

“A FINAL ‘NO’ TO ROBIDOUX SALE,” the Page One headline in the News-Press read on Jan. 13, 1976. “The American National Bank will not sell the Robidoux Hotel at any price, Robert F. Keatley, bank chairman, said today,” the story began. “The bank’s executive committee made the decision after being approached by some St. Joseph persons who offered to raise money to buy the hotel.”

The story also said the bank earlier had rejected an offer by Keith Chasteen, owner of Kansas City’s Aladdin Hotel, to buy the Robidoux.

The hotel’s supporters did not go down quietly. That evening, a group called Citizens to Save the Hotel, headed by Nancy Sandehn, met at Christ Episcopal Church to drum up support for their cause. “They took no action, however, except to criticize the razing plan,” Mark Lindensmith wrote in the next morning’s Gazette.

Chasteen was at the meeting and told the group the hotel had lost money the past five years, yet it still was an asset to the community and had financial potential.

The bank was represented by car dealer Casey Meyers, a member of the board of directors. He said a study showed the hotel, which had become run down in recent years, was not commercially viable and it would take at least $1 million to renovate it.

“For the past two years, hardly a board meeting has gone by without much agonizing over the hotel’s future,” he told the group.

Agonizing or no, the hotel was demolished, by implosion, on June 13. The event was filmed and became part of a Miller Beer commercial.

A groundbreaking for the Robidoux Center was held three months later, on Sept. 14, and drew a number of local officials, Edwin R. McDonald reported in the News-Press that afternoon.

Mayor William Bennett described the center as “another milestone in our great city.” Added Denton Matteson of the Chamber of Commerce: “The building will be an achievement that will stand for years and be an inspiration to others to build in our Downtown area.”

Keatley scooped the first shovelful of dirt and told the crowd, “Shortly this corner (Fifth and Francis streets) will be transformed to the No. 1 location in St. Joseph. Two years from now, downtown will be well on its way to being a viable, active and pleasant part of St. Joseph.”

Robidoux Center was completed two years later, and the grand opening was on May 20, 1978, with new mayor Gordon Wiser cutting the ribbon. Gazette business editor Harold Mills wrote that anyone touring the building “will find it beautiful, impressive and historically inspiring, with several artifacts from the old hotel.”

In addition to the bank, the center had four tenants: Sanders International Tours, Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co., Reinholdt & Gardner Investments and the Watkins and Lucas law firm.

Milestone, inspiration, No. 1 location … in using these terms, it’s clear the developers and supporters expected the Robidoux Center to become a major force in St. Joseph’s Downtown.

But did it turn out that way? That’s the question.