National Register Listing

Corey House/Hotel

N. Main at 2nd St., Grove, OK

Taken together the Corey House and adjacent Corey Hotel - provided a remarkably authentic picture of small-town innkeeping in Oklahoma in the early years of the 20th century. C. H. Corey came to Indian Territory in 1891, and built his two-story frame house in 1899. Mrs. Corey promptly made it a boarding house, charging 25 cents for a meal and renting an occasional bed for 50 cents. The food was apparently good. By 1909 business was brisk enough that Mr. Corey built the Corey House a few feet to the south. It, too, was a two-story frame affair, almost identical to his house. The two buildings were operated together by the Corey family as a boarding house/hotel for another 40 years. And they stand today pretty much as they always have well cared for, many of the rooms boasting original furniture and furnishings.

In the small town of Grove - established in 1889 and still has a population of less than 2,000 the Corey House/Hotel was a center of social and commercial activity for more than a half-century. Strategically located on Main Street, with the depot a block to the north and other businesses to the south, it continued to operate long after most similar establishments had closed shop. In the years that followed retained family ownership, a growing awareness of traditional values, and perhaps a modicum of nostalgic sentimentality, have all conspired to assure its preservation. Today the plan of the three heirs/owners is to restore it and make it available to the public as a tribute to their grandparents and an authentic memorial to the turn-of-the-century small town boarding house.

Local significance of the building:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1982.