Renovating a 124-year-old former hotel is a huge undertaking. Financing aside, decisions on the details of a complete restoration are undoubtedly a time-consuming venture.

So, too, is an effort of Cindy Gasper and her brother, Dean Bartholomew, who desire to see the former Broney’s Hotel in New Mahoning be added to the National Register of Historic Places.

While the facility is being prepared for a multiuse restaurant/cafe/bakery, Gasper is busy these days doing the research of the former hotel, and the mounds of paperwork required to get the building under consideration as a historic site in Pennsylvania.

Historic documents indicate the 3-acre site at the intersection of Mahoning Drive East (Route 209) and Mill Road in the Village of New Mahoning goes back to the early history of Mahoning Township. Actually, the first hotel in New Mahoning was the Jacob Fenstermacher Tavern, built in 1820. The property included a farm, distillery and a butcher shop. It was famous for serving Indians and defending itself from Indian attacks. Its location placed it at a desirable resting point between the Lehigh Valley and the coal mine at Summit Hill. The property was later owned by Stephen Fenstermacher.

Records indicate in the 1890s, Thomas Beltz purchased the Fenstermacher farm and tavern. In 1898, he built the Beltz Hotel, which would later become Broney’s Hotel, across the street. The intersection became known as Broney’s Corner.

There are some local rumors the project was funded by Mary Packer, daughter of Lehigh Valley Railroad & Lehigh University founder, Asa Packer of Mauch Chunk (Jim Thorpe). In an old photo, she is seen on the porch with her entourage, catching a photo with her coachman, Herman Schneider.

Local historian Jack Gunsser said, “On special occasions, she was rumored to have left $100 bills under her dinner plate and, back then, that was a lot of money.”

In 1919, Beltz leased the hotel to Drs. R.R. Rupp and L. Brenckman to renovate it into a hospital. After a few months, Dr. Rupp decided to leave for Boston to take an advanced course in surgery and the hospital closed.

In 1927, a lawsuit between Thomas Beltz and Henry and Emeline Bednard forced the property into a sheriff’s sale. It was purchased by Bernard McDermott in 1931 and sold to Albert Kline in 1934, then resold to Helen (Sultonis) Broney that same year.

Helen Ann Broney owned the hotel until her passing in 1939, at which time her brother-in-law, Charles Broney, executor of her estate, and his wife, Thelma, settled the estate among Helen’s four children, Helen Ann, Rose Broney Gombert, Gloria and Paul.

Helen Ann and Rose sold portions of the property to Rose and her husband, James Gombert, who used it as a residential property in 1953, and, in 1963, the building became the site of Gombert’s General Store. The store was later housed in the building where the Mahoning Ambulance Company now sits.

Helen Ann operated the hotel and tavern until 1966. When she passed away in 1986, her property was willed to her sister, Gloria Broney Dolinsky, her niece, Kay Zern, and two nephews, Jim Gombert and Paul Dolinsky.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Christ Evangelical Free Church used the hotel for services before constructing its current church building off Route 433. In the 1980s, part of the building was rented to the Country Traditions gift shop.

In 1986, Gloria Dolinsky, acting as executor, auctioned the property, including all of the furnishing. Nick Petruce and his wife, Marika, of Philadelphia, planned to open the tavern/hotel as Nick’s Hotel de Ville, later planning to open it as the Sunflower Inn.

In 1990, before they could renovate the property, Nick died. Marika and her daughters lived in the house, where she ran a pierogi business.

She began renovations but was unable to obtain financing, decided to sell and in December 2007 after 1½ years on the market, placed on auction.

When the building was not sold, Gasper, Bartholomew and four other family members purchased it in 2008 for $200,000, with limited furnishings being included in the sale.