Magnolia House

Fred Pettit built the original hotel when Roberts was started in 1871. It was the only hotel or Magnolia House, as it was called, ever to be built in Roberts.
The land first belonged to Mr. Francis Alonzo Roberts. Then it was passed on to different families.
Some of the families that owned the hotel were P. J. Foster, Charles O. Hayes, Francis M. Hancock, O. M. Decourey, William H. Wilson and Oliver C. Dilks....
The hotel was once a very popular stopping place. Salesmen who came in on the railroad spent the night there and then used the Roberts livery stable services the following day to drive to Melvin and other nearby towns.
A dentist, Dr. E. D. Wilkenson, from Gibson City, had an office in one of the upstairs rooms. He would come to Roberts once a week. For several years, the Roberts telephone switchboard was operated in one of the rooms.
The hotel had 22 rooms, two dining rooms, and one bath. They used gas to light the rooms.
Sometimes when trains would go through, the sparks from the train would land on the roof of the hotel and start a fire.
Oliver C. Dilks was born in Thorton, Leicertershire, England. he came to the United States in January, 1893 and became a citizen in 1894. Mr. Dilks came, with his wife Catherine, to Roberts in 1912 from Ludingon, Michigan.
Mr. and Mrs. Dilks purchased the hotel building in 1918. They had five children: Katherine Dilks Johnson, Oliver C. Dilks, Arthur L. Dilks, (dec.) Sidney H. Dilks, Evelyn Dilks (dec.)
In 1918, Mr. Dilks was called to serve his country. On the morning of Nov. 11, 1918, he with other men, arrived at the Paxton depot to take the train to Chicago for their physical. Before they took the train, word was received that the Armistice had been signed. So, all were sent back to their homes.
In June, 1942, Mr. Dilks, Sr., was a member of the Selective Service of Ford County at Paxton.
Sidney H. Dilks, one of their children, was the youngest States Attorney to be elected in the state of Illinois. He also, as a young man, helped with the building of Route 115 in 1913 and 1917. One day he was run over by a load of bricks, but being a young man, he lived.
Jack and Katherine (Dilks) Johnson took over the hotel in 1941, but did not operate a hotel after the death of her parents. Mr. and Mrs. John (Jack) Johnson have one son, Arthur.

--Robert Area Centennial 1872-1972. 100 Years of Plowing, Planting, Progressing.  1972.