About hotel garber
the history and reHABILITAtion of the potter-wright building in Red Cloud, Nebraska.
The historic Potter-Wright Building has been expertly transformed into Hotel Garber, a charming 27-room boutique hotel that offers modern downtown accommodations. This redevelopment includes versatile event spaces, a cozy lounge and dining room, and a small library. The hotel provides an inviting and memorable atmosphere for your weekend escape, event, or retreat.
A Charming history
Construction of the Potter-Wright building began in 1901, with the local newspaper reporting at the time that the building would "be one of the handsomest in the city." Over the years, the building was home to barber shops, law offices, lodge rooms, real estate brokers, clothing stores, an investment company, and apartment-style dwellings. Prior to a multi-year rehabilitation completed in 2025, this 1902 treasure had been unoccupied for more than twenty-five years. Reconstruction of the third floor—lost to a fire in 1961—helped the building reclaim its illustrious past, with an expansion from 16,500 to 22,500 square feet.
A bright future
Our facility contributes significantly to downtown revitalization efforts and bolsters tourism by offering essential lodging for visitors, as well as enhanced meeting spaces for events and retreats. It enables guests of the National Willa Cather Center to extend their stay and immerse themselves in the museum, historic landmarks, the town, the Cather Prairie, and other picturesque locations that figured into Willa Cather's life and writing.
Willa Cather
Hotel Garber, located in the vibrant center of Red Cloud, Nebraska, honors the literary heritage of Willa Cather, a renowned author whose writings frequently drew inspiration from her roots in this charming town. Widely celebrated for My Antonia, Cather received the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours. Today's readers continue to value Cather's quietly nuanced characters, masterful language, and sensitive explorations of place. Her life and work still inspire insightful scholarly analysis. Willa Cather's legacy endures, not only as a "favorite daughter" but as an author who elevated her formative Nebraska experiences into an international literary legacy.
THE GarberS
The hotel's name is a nod to Silas Garber, a founder of Red Cloud and the third elected Governor of Nebraska. Silas and Lyra Garber were the prototypes for Captain and Mrs. Forrester in Willa Cather's 1923 novel A Lost Lady. Much like Marian Forrester in A Lost Lady, Lyra Garber was well known for her charm and hospitality; the Garbers often hosted picnics and dances in their cottonwood grove near Red Cloud. Willa Cather recalled these happy occasions in her published work and in her private letters. To continue a rich tradition of hospitality, Hotel Garber delivers a unique blend of historic charm, and contemporary comfort.
