ST. CHARLES HOTEL
Ted and Anne Stephens operated the community landmark St. Charles Inn Bed and Breakfast.
Founders Garden Club of San Antonio will sponsor tours of the historic inn on April 7.
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SAN ANTONIO -history repeats itself at the restored St. Charles Inn,
where the garden club plans a fund-raising tour and luncheon.
Take tour of St. Charles Inn
(from "The Tampa Tribune" -Pasco section, March 20, 2001)
Pieces of the Past
By CAROL JEFFARES HEDMAN
San Antonio has long been known for its hospitality that wraps even strangers in the warmth of this cozy community.
The tradition dates back to when settlers first came to the rolling countryside of what is today east Pasco County.
Founded in 1881 as a Catholic colony, San Antonio drew residents from throughout the North and the community grew, warranting a railroad stop by 1888 where goods would be shipped and visitors would arrive.
Often in the dead of night, the passengers would be greeted by Charles Barthle, who guided them with a lantern to his nearby St. Charles Hotel.
Barthle's brothers had come years earlier to settle the community of St. Joseph, about three miles from San Antonio.
Andrew Barthle first arrived in that area in March 1883. For three months he explored the area before returning to his hometown of St. Joseph, Minn., to tell of the warm climate and fertile farmland.
That June, Barthle's older brother, Bernard, brought his wife and eight children there to establish the first permanent home in the community they named for their minnesota hometown. Andrew and his family followed in July 1885 and a short time later the youngest of the Barthle brothers. Charles, followed.
Charles moved his family to nearby San Antonio where he operated the Florida House Hotel, at the corner of Curley Street and what is now Jesse Jones Avenue, from 1900 to 1913. That year he built the St. Charles Hotel, a grand two-story structure that would continue to welcome visitors to San Antonio for years.
Located at 12502 Curley St., the whitewashed building features 1500 square feet of porches that embrace both stories and are supported by columns.
Know for its hospitality to railroad commuters, word soon spread about the family atmosphere at the St. Charles Hotel and the delicious meals prepared from the Barthles' garden. The hotel was filled with visitors, many of whom stayed the winter. The hotel also was the scene of many wedding receptions.
In later years the hotel was run by Charles Barthle's daughters: Barbara, Benadette and Dora.
FAILING HEALTH FORCED the Barthles to retire from the hotel business in the years after World War II, and they sold the St. Charles to the Wilbur Strehle family. But when they fell on hard times, the Barthles repurchased it and finally sold it in 1970 to Henry and Irene Pike.
The Pikes converted the old hotel into Share-A-Home St. Charles, a retirement center with a capacity for 20 residents. The Pikes sold it in 1979 to the Steve Miller family, who continued to operate the St. Charles as a retirement home.
For a time the Millers also transformed the place into a restaurant and ice cream parlor. It then stood vacant for a number of years before a Tampa couple bought it in August 1995 with grand dreams of returning the hotel to his grand status in the community.
Ted and Anne Stephens initially bought the building with the intentions of converting it into their home. But the more they worked, the more they thought about returning the hotel to its original role of housing guests - this time as a bed and breakfast.
Plans were to finish the work within a year, but 12 months turned into two years and then three. The Stephenses, assisted by Ted's father, 74-year-old Jim Stephens, and their sons. Tacy and Hunter, worked an estimated 100 hours each week to authentically restore the structure.
It wasn't just time consuming. Materials alone cost more than $100,000. But the Stephenses were determined to do it right.
That meant things like authentically repairing the 62 windows instead of just replacing them. In 1913 the windows were opened and closed by encased ropes and weights, and the couple had to replace the weathered ropes so the windows could be maneuvered the old-fashioned way.
Now called the St. Charles Inn the old building officially opened as a bed and breakfast Oct. 16, 1999. Guests do the same things those first visitors did in 1913 - sit on the porches or walk the few blocks into town to enjoy the quaint atmosphere.
Jack and Diane Jones, who celebrated their wedding reception at the St. Charles in 1950, returned last June for their 50th wedding anniversary. The San Antonio couple stayed in the same room they did a quarter of a century ago.
Now Diane Jones wants others to see the authentic touches abounding at the St. Charles Inn. She and other menbers of the Founders Garden Club of San Antonio will offer tours on April 7. Tickets for the tour and a luncheon are $12.
The tours are set at 10:30 and 11:30 p.m. Tickets are available from club members or by calling (352) 588-2356.
Proceeds will be used to enhance San Antonio City Park, which has been a club project since its inception in 1961.

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