Ownership
1919 – 1925: F. H. Cunningham
Purchase of Land, including the lot for the Hotel on December 17, 1918 for $20,000. Foreclosure filed in the District Court of Kimball County on October 13, 1921. State Savings and Loan Association of Beatrice, NE versus Frank H. Cunningham. Source: Legal documents filed with the Kimball County Clerk, 1918 and 1921, respectively.
Frank Cunningham
- Mayor 1911-1912
- Cunningham Realty Co. with F. H. Cunningham, president
- Wheat farmer – Wheat took a drop of forty cents on yesterday’s market. F. H. Cunningham contracted five thousand bushels yesterday at $2 to the government. (Western Nebraska Observer Aug 9, 1917)
Cunningham’s financial empire collapsed a few years after he built it, and Denver Dry Goods Co. repossessed elegant furnishings. State Savings and Loan of Beatrice instituted foreclosure proceedings. Everything was stripped from the hotal, including even some plumbing, and it was boarded up. It soon reopened when Tate and Johnson equipped a few rooms.
Herman Kallhoff helped build the Wheat Growers Hotel.
Western Nebraska Observer, May 2, 1985 (Centennial Edition)
- 1923: Frank Cunningham, wheat and potato farmer and owner of the Wheat Growers Hotel, was under bond, waiting trail, on a charge of obtaining money under false pretense. The Bldg and Loan Assoc of Beatrice had foreclosed on the hotel and Cunningham had made arrangements to pay for the coal to keep it open. He drew money to pay for coal, but paid an old coal bill by mistake instead of buying the coal to be used. He entered a plea of not guilty and was bound over to district court. (The case would be dismissed in another two months).
- 1924: Frank Cunningham, “at one time the greatest wheat raiser in the west had filed petition in bankruptcy…” During the war Cunningham reportedly made over $100,000 raising wheat here.
1925 – 1945: Moore Family
Verne Moore and his wife Gladys Naomi Hallet moved to Kimball in 1927 were he became the manager of the Wheat Growers Hotel for his dad. Gladys did most of the cooking (she was very famous for her pies) and lots of the cleaning.
Richard Ernest Moore and Dorothy Jane Moore were the children of Verne and Gladys. They grew up in the busy atmosphere of the Wheat Growers Hotel where they learned to make beds, clean, do laundry, wait tables, mop floors and bellhop.
Source: Mary Moore, “Kimball County, Nebraska 100 Year History Book” published by the Plains Genealogical Society of Kimball County in 1988.
1945 - 1964: T.I. Dutch and Chuck and Hester Mary Halstead
1964 – [unknown]: Mr. and Mrs. A Blaine Jackson
1980's - Marty and Suzi Barr
1988 – Hotel Closed
2000 – 2004: Ed Avila 
Ed Avila purchased the Wheat Grower's Hotel in 2000 for the back property taxes owed to Kimball County Nebraska. Ed was successful in getting the Wheat Growers Hotel added to the National Registry in 2002 (Building - #02000769) and Nebraska Historic Building Survey Site No. KM04-068.
2004 – 2006: Missionaire International
Missionaire International purchased the hotel in 2004 from Ed Avila. Their intent was to renovate the hotel into apartments for the Missionaries, classrooms, and a youth center. Missionaire started demolition of the hotel's interior with volunteer help - both missionary and community volunteers. During the summer of 2005 they replaced most of the window glass, re-roofed, removed lathe and plaster from the interior walls.
2006: Kent and Sue Worker
On April 21, 2006, Kent and Sue Worker purchased the hotel from the Missionaire International. We, Kent and Sue Worker, are the current owners of the Wheat Growers Hotel. "Caretakers" are what we really feel best describes our part in the history of this magnificent building. We bought this Hotel for two reasons......to secure it from being torn down (and, yes, even though the Hotel is on the National Historic Registry it can be torn down) and to keep this valuable piece of Kimball (and American) history in the hands of people who care and love 'her'.