After months of renovations, demolition and installation of new fixtures, painting walls and selecting tiles, Kelsey and Dane Stier were ready to welcome their first guests at the renovated Knox Hotel on North Main Street in downtown Princeton.

That was April 9, 2022, a date that is easy for the couple to recall because the very next day their second child was born.

“It’s been quite the juggle,” Kelsey Stier said, adding that today they have three children and their oldest is 6 years of age.

For the Stiers, renovating and reopening the historic hotel in downtown Princeton has been a labor of love, immeasurable sweat and countless long nights.

“Everyone is so excited to see us save the building and bring it back,” Stier said.

The Michigan native admits that when she married the boy from Princeton, Illinois, she never imagined she would someday call it her hometown, too. They both come from families steeped in their communities and are willing to follow their entrepreneurial spirit, so launching their business seemed natural, albeit a major undertaking

The opportunity to save the historic property wasn’t for the faint of heart. The first time the couple saw the hotel property in 2021, it wasn’t pretty. The inside was partly gutted from a prior owner’s attempt to demolish and renovate, and there was a long list of work that would need to be done to bring the building from the 1850s up to code in today’s standards for plumbing, electrical and HVAC.

With encouragement and support, the couple decided to accept the challenge. Investors as well as donors have helped them raise the capital for the project.

“Everyone was really excited,” Stier said. “We had to do it or we knew we’d come to regret it if we didn’t try it.”

With some help from the Bureau County Genealogical Society and the Bureau County Historical Society, the couple pieced together some of the property’s history. The original Knox Hotel opened in 1854 to provide accommodations near the new train depot because travelers on the railway needed a place to stay.

The original building had rooms heated with coal-burning furnaces and candles for light in the 28 guest rooms. The hotel was constructed by William Knox, an early settler in Bureau County.

Historical notes say that in 1870, the hotel was renamed the National Hotel, and Knox renovated the hotel in 1893 in hopes of attracting visitors traveling in the area for the Chicago World’s Fair. In the late 1890s, following the passing of William Knox, his son Albert Knox renamed it the Knox Hotel and added electricity to the building.

In the 1900s, the first floor would become home to the Northern Cafe, which many remember for serving popular fried chicken. The restaurant would operate into the 1980s, even after the hotel closed in the 1970s.

Stier said she often meets people who remember dining at the cafe and hear stories about fried chicken.

The building facade was updated in 2015. The property was the first recipient of the Princeton Historic Preservation Commission Award, in addition to being named to the National Register of Historic Places.

Taking note of the building’s history, the Stiers sought help to bring the property back to life and try to add features that would invoke the building’s original style, while making it comfortable for modern visitors who prefer private bathrooms.

The couple hired two Princeton firms, Someone’s in the Kitchen, Inc. and Studio K Architecture, both of which have an understanding of historic properties, to help with the building renovations.

“We learned a lot,” Stier said. “They helped us draft new blueprints for the hotel.”

Today, the hotel has five rooms available for guests as well as a partially finished ballroom that is large enough to host smaller events such as wedding showers and reunions. The ballroom is on the second floor, with windows overlooking Rotary Park. When complete, the ballroom will seat 136, with a catering kitchen that can accommodate a wedding and other larger events, Stier said.

Additionally, the couple plans to continue renovations that will add seven more guest rooms on the third floor.

The work is more than painting and wallpaper, as the couple tries to help each guest enjoy the Princeton experience, providing a binder of information about places to eat, shop and things to see while staying. The last two summers have been busy with rooms booked most of the weekends during the warmer months, welcoming guests attending weddings in town, coming in for local festivals and making Princeton an overnight stop on their railway travels.

“We’ve even had train guests who stop and stay with us,” Stier said. “It’s cool to see the train riders. The hotel is right across from the train depot and park.”

They’ve had repeat visitors and brides who stay with their friends in the hotel and use it for their portraits before the ceremony.

The winter is quieter, but the couple is finding fun ways to keep business going, hosting activities including escape room nights that the couple designs on their own. They are also using the less busy time to work on the remaining renovations. The couple uses social media, including their Instagram page, @WhenHistoryKnox, to share news about the hotel renovations and events.

The hotel provides more than accommodations to travelers — it helps bring new faces to the downtown and supports the neighboring businesses.

“It puts shoppers downtown,” Dane Stier said, adding the support from fellow downtown businesses and the city has been helpful to the project.

“The guests are eating local, shopping local and helping support the neighboring properties,” Kelsey Stier added.

She said her mom calls downtown Princeton a “little Hallmark town” for its quaint, small-town atmosphere.

“We want to make people feel like they’ve stepped back in time, escape from today,” Kelsey Stier said.