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An entrepreneur's challenge

You could imagine Ernest Hemingway in a place like this. The dark wood staircase, the ornate brick and ironwork, the dining room with bentwood chairs, the huge old gas stove in the kitchen. In most ways that matter, the Orleans Hotel hasn’t changed since its heyday. It was built in 1929 as a quality place for travelers to stay, and back then, they built them to last.

Hemingway would undoubtedly have appreciated the location. Just a mile from the Republican River and only ten minutes from the Harlan County Reservoir, Nebraska’s second largest body of water, the Orleans Hotel is in the middle of a sportsman’s paradise. The area is a popular destination for hunters, bird watchers, fishermen – in its time, the Orleans Hotel has been host to generations of sports people from all over the world. It’s also been the scene of countless wedding receptions, anniversaries, showers and parties of every description.

If only these walls could talk.

Today, the Orleans Hotel stands in all its stoic elegance, mostly empty, mostly waiting. It’s an entrepreneur’s challenge.

Someone with a good idea and $132,500 could own the entire Orleans Hotel and with it a little slice of Nebraska history. Could it be the site for week-long seminars on song writing, savvy investing or playing the oboe? Could companies use it as a strategic retreat? Maybe it could be a cooking school or a business incubator. Or a movie set.

The thing is, it’s too cool to just let crumble into disuse. Someone with a vision could have something special for themselves and preserve something special for the rest of us.

Every month, Nebraska Rural Living posts business opportunities. Some of them are straightforward; others, like the Orleans Hotel, require a little more imagination. So give it some thought. Towns like Orleans and regions like south central Nebraska could use some visionaries – people who can see a different path; a little farther down the road. Check out the Orleans Hotel and all the business opportunities on Nebraska Rural Living. And maybe imagine yourself as host to a new generation of Papa Hemingways.

These photos are taken from a larger photo essay on the Orleans Hotel by Holdrege photographer Dan Christensen. You can contact Dan at photography10@gmail.com.

To learn more about how you can be a writer for Nebraska Rural Living, and have your essays posted on this site, visit our 'Writers Wanted' page.

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