Public sale set for weekend as owners prepare Althoff Motel for closure in May

QUINCY — The Althoff family is finally getting out of the hotel business.

Jim and Jo Ann Althoff have owned and/or operated the Althoff Motel, 3511 N. 24^th, since 1985. Jim’s parents, Alene and Elmer Althoff, owned the 40-room motel after Jim helped build it. His parents at one time also owned the Diamond Motel, which was built in 1949 and first owned by professional baseball pitcher Fritz Ostermuller.

“(Alene and Elmer) had gotten out of the motel business, but she wasn’t quite ready to retire, I guess,” Jim said. “So we built a hotel.”

Now the Althoffs have reached a deal to sell the motel. They will stop renting rooms on May 6. They plan to be out of the three buildings on site by the end of the month, and that process begins this weekend with a public sale. Items such as beds, furniture, microwave ovens and televisions will be sold.

“We’re old,” Jo Ann said. “Jim’s pushing close to 80, and I’m right behind him. I wanted to retire when I turned 70, but that didn’t happen. So it’s time.”

Jim and Jo Ann met when Elmer was in the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where Jo Ann, who originally is from Hawaii, was a registered nurse. 

Most of Quincy’s hotels were in the downtown/riverfront area when the Althoff motel was built. The property once was the site of the Hilltop Motel and the Hilltop Apartments, and Jim said he believes Quincy’s first drive-thru restaurant was in the smallest building on the property. When the Althoffs built the two-story building on the southern part of the property, they also converted a unit from the older motel into a barbershop.

As more hotels sprung up on the eastern edge of Quincy, the Althoff continued to thrive.

“Over the time, some years were better than others, like anything,” Jim said. “The pandemic hurt us pretty bad. But last year was pretty good, and it looks like this year is doing well, too.”

The Althoffs didn’t disclose who the property was sold to. They believe the property, with Knapheide Manufacturing to the east across 24^th Street and Adams Networks to the south, likely will be used for office space.

Other than a few photos, they don’t plan to keep much from the hotel. Their memories will be of all the people from all over the world who stayed there.

“I had a lady call the other day, and she told us, ‘Oh, my mom and dad used to stay here,’” Jo Ann said. 

Letting go won’t be easy for the Althoffs.

“I’m having a harder time than he is,” Jo Ann said. 

“It’s going to be a change in our lives,” Jim said.