Dixie Hotel

Canton's city history page names a second builder for the Dixie Hotel: Dr. M.L. Cox, alongside John R. Kellis, around 1915. Its list of notable guests adds Wiley Post and H.L. Hunt to Will Rogers, Lyndon Johnson and Bonnie and Clyde. The Handbook of Texas says Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow once lived briefly at the hotel. The city page says Miss Mamie Maume sat at a roll-top desk in the hall to take money for the meals, and that Van oil field crews drew hundreds of men and women to Canton in the 1920s and 1930s.

What the plaque says

Dixie Hotel On September 2, 1915, the Canton Herald announced plans for a new hotel. Its site along the Dixie Highway gave the hotel its name and a prime location to attract travelers and residents. The hotel's square floor plan included two full floors with wraparound gallery porches, and dormer windows and a half-floor in the attic. Sheriff John Kellis, the owner and contractor, sold the hotel for $2,750 to Mrs. A. R. Maume and her daughter, Mamie, on October 18, 1916. Mamie became the hotel manager. In 1919, she oversaw construction of a two-story annex. The Dixie Hotel became known regionally for its lodging and meals. Maggie Bowles, and later Aarona Maxie and her sister, Nannie Hambrick, were the renowned cooks. For 85 cents on weekdays, or a dollar on Sundays, a customer could eat all he wanted. U.S. Senator Lyndon B. Johnson arrived by helicopter to sample some of Aarona's good cooking. The Dixie had two dining rooms, one public and one private. The private room was used by juries during long trials. The hotel was also visited by politicians, businessmen, and such celebrities as Will Rogers, Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. When the Van oil field drew hundreds of men and women in the 1920s and 1930s, the Dixie was always full, and cots were even placed on the porches to accommodate all the people. Pure Oil Company contracted with Miss Mamie for a separate office space and living quarters behind the hotel. Dallas and Fort Worth newspaper articles about the hotel brought motorists to Canton, while residents enjoyed Sunday singing, organization meetings, and Aggie Muster at the Dixie. Miss Mamie operated the hotel until May 5, 1954, the day she died. The Dixie closed for good that night. (2013)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Purtis Creek State Park — 16 mi
  A 1,582-acre park straddling the Henderson and Van Zandt county line, built around a 355-acre lake with no-wake fishing, borrowed tackle, a 4.1-mile hike-and-bike trail and a nature path.
• Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center — 24 mi
  A Texas Parks and Wildlife hatchery and visitor center in Athens where visitors can borrow tackle and fish a stocked pond, watch native species in gallery tanks and ride a tram around the hatchery.
• No. 1 British Flying Training School Museum — 26 mi
  A free museum at Terrell's airport where about 2,200 RAF cadets learned to fly between 1941 and 1945, with logbooks, uniforms, letters and original training aircraft.
• Governor Hogg Shrine — 29 mi
  Quitman's 27-acre city park, once a state historical park, where two houses tied to James Stephen Hogg's marriage stand beside an arboretum, a nature walk and the grounds of the Old Settlers Reunion.

More markers nearby

• Cadwell Walton Raines — steps away
• Oran Milo Roberts — steps away
• Site of 1896 Van Zandt County Courthouse — steps away
• John H. Reagan — steps away