By Philip Haldiman

Independent Newsmedia

With the Castle Hot Springs Resort north of Peoria well on its way to revitalization, the owner of another historic building with deep connections to the getaway is pitching for a rebirth as well.

For years, the Hardee property, located at 41203 W. Grand Ave., in Morristown, was the last stop before traveling the final hazardous 24-miles to reach the remote luxury getaway.

Some of the most influential families of the time — the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, Fords and Wrigleys — stopped off to spend a night in the building, then aptly known as Castle Hot Springs Hotel.

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Now the family that owns the nearly 120 year-old building is looking for a buyer to renovate and preserve the property equally steeped in history as its iconic counterpart.

The 3,119-square-foot building on about 4 acres is listed for $359,900.

Real estate agent Randi Bowser said there is a buyer’s contingency stating the transaction is dependent on the preservation of the building.

Ms. Bowser said the property has been on and off the market since 2001, but the listing has seen a lot of activity recently with the revitalization of Castle Hot Springs Resort and the opening of the nearby Horns and Hooves Arena, 39410 N. Grand Ave., Morristown, which produces roping competitions and various equine disciplines and events.

She said the property is owned by the Hardee family and is being sold “As Is.”

“What a great investment opportunity. The building has great potential. Just imagine the possibilities — restaurant, gift shop, antique store. And preserving the property would also fill a huge need in the area for a convenience store and gas station,” Ms. Bowser said.

Bustling railroad stop

The property was listed to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991 under the name Morristown Store and has had a number of names over the years: Morristown Hotel, Morristown Boarding House and Morristown Grocery. Its functions have included post office, general store and even brothel by some accounts.

But it started with the name Hot Springs Junction Hotel when it opened at the turn of the century as a commercial-style railroad building.

The building owes its birth to railroad and mining entrepreneur Frank M. Murphy and the tremendous growth of the mining industry in the mid-1880s with the increased need for a cheaper and faster method for transporting dry goods, heavy mining equipment and ores to and from the mines.

It was a stop along the Santa Fe Railroad system that became not only important for mining, but a major shipping route for produce and cattle from Phoenix to Los Angeles as well as a heavily used passenger rail, according to the National Register of Historic Places.

During this time, Hot Springs Junction Hotel thrived because of its central location to a number of developments — the Vulture Mine located 16 miles west, the building being established as a post office, and of course, the opening of the Castle Hot Springs resort in the late 1890s, according to the book “Along the Old Vulture Road: Cattle Tales and Trails From Wickenburg to Phoenix” by Albert F. Tudor, published in 1998.

The depot was a stopping-off point for presidents like Herbert Hoover, Calvin Coolidge and John F. Kennedy before they braved the last road to the resort.

The dirt road passage has posed a great challenge to travelers over the years, whether moving by horse-drawn carriage or a Ford Model T. Even today, the final 13-miles that starts near the entrance of Lake Pleasant Regional Park is best traversed by SUV or truck.

Mr. Tudor writes the depot was often populated with the private pullman cars of some of the country’s wealthiest and best-known people who left them at the depot while they stayed at the resort.

“The building was a good place to get a good meal and a good night’s sleep before the often treacherous stagecoach ride to the hot springs,” Mr. Tudor wrote.

New ownership

As the automobile replaced horses, the use of the building transitioned from hotel to store. During this shift, in 1931, John Shadrack Hardee Sr., less formerly known as Shade, bought the building and it has been in his family ever since.

Shade had been intimately connected with the hot springs as a driver and his wife, Goldie, had run the post office, hotel and store for many years, according to the historic register.

Arizona historian Marshal Trimble wrote about the Hardees in his 1989 book, “The Backroads.”

John Shadrack Hardee Jr. ran the family business after his father, John Sr. died. He interviewed Shade’s son John Shadrack Hardee Jr., who was 68 at the time and said the Hardee name was well known in the area originating more than 140 years ago.

Shade’s uncle, John Morgan Hardee, came to the area in the 1880s as a rancher at the JL Bar Ranch, near Castle Hot Springs, and was a deputy with the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office, Mr. Trimble said.

“Shade took a job in 1913 as a chauffeur for Murphy, hauling tourists to the resort in a seven-passenger Cadillac,” Mr. Trimble said.

He added that the heyday of the Hardee building offers up the Wild West lore people expect from that time in history.

“There’s even a lost treasure story near Morristown,” he said. “A courier carrying two large gold bars was waylaid by a couple of bandits. He killed both of them but was mortally wounded himself. He managed to crawl up an arroyo and hide the bars at the foot  of a mesquite tree. He lived just long enough to tell his rescuers about it. They searched but never found it.”

The Hardee building, as well as several other buildings in the area, were moved  200-300 yards to the north in the mid-1930s because of the construction of what would become known as the U.S. 60, or Grand Avenue. At that point, it became the Morristown Store, and changed its business focus from hotel to general store to target automobiles, rather than railroad passengers.

The building has remained there ever since.

Looking to the future

Goldie Polvado and her family own Hardee property.

She says she won’t sell the building unless a buyer has plans to preserve it.

She said the memories are too fond and the history too important not to keep the building alive. She worked at the store as a young woman and then behind the bar as an adult and remembers those bumpy trips to Castle Hot Springs Resort, delivering mail, liquor and other goods. She reminisces about stocking shelves and helping customers when her father, Hardee Jr.,  ran the establishment.

Ms. Polvado wants to honor her father’s wish to keep the property alive, but she worries about the infringement of growth surrounding Morristown, flanked by quickly expanding cities like Peoria and Surprise.

Goldie Polvado behind the bar and in front of the old Hardee building in Morristown. [Philip Haldiman/Indpendent Newsmedia][/caption]“There is so much awesomeness about that property. It is the coolest old building, but I’m afraid some big corporation is going to come up and annex Morristown and we will lose it,” she said.

If she does not find a buyer, she said she will consider revitalizing the property herself, but is not sure how much it would cost.

She envisions it as grocery market for the area and a community gathering place where people can come have a cup of coffee or a baked good.

“It could be a place maybe to have breakfast or lunch,” she said. “It would have a really nice desert landscaped area where people could have weddings and parties, where community can come together, because you don’t see that much anymore.”