A new era has begun at the Hotel Pattee in Perry, as Tom and Vickie Maxwell have officially taken over ownership of the historic building.

The Maxwells live in Edwardsville, Illinois, where for 25 years, Tom ran a successful medical implant business. He sold it at the end of 2016 with plans of retiring, though he found out quickly that retirement didn’t suit him. He then bought an old athletic facility in Alton, Illinois that he restored and opened as a community center called Max Sports. He’s very proud of the center, but still wanted something more to fill his time. Maxwell says he’s always had an interest in hotel management, so he began researching hotels available for purchase. After not finding what he was looking for in his initial search, he broadened it to include Iowa. He says he literally typed “hotels for sale in Iowa” into Google, and found Hotel Pattee.

Maxwell was drawn to the history and architecture of the century-old building and planned a visit to Perry to meet with then-owners Jay and Denise Hartz. Once here, he discovered not just a beautiful hotel, but also a community that cared deeply about it. “I was just captivated on my very first visit of how the people feel about this hotel, and what it means to the town of Perry and what it means to Dallas County. And I’ve said this to multiple people, but I grew up in a small town, I live in an area called Edwardsville, Illinois, and in both of those areas in my life people have been very nice. But I’ve never met the hospitality and the genuineness of the people in Perry. It’s been great!”

Looking to the future, Maxwell hopes he can increase the hotel’s business on weekdays, while also more frequently bringing in local guests. To learn more about Maxwell, listen to the two-part Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program at RaccoonValleyRadio.com.