The Hoxsey Hotel, which was located at 319 South Jefferson, was a part of Mexico life and hospitality for 76 years until it burned in 1980. While the building was a total loss, the majestic triplets of stained glass from the World’s Fair in 1904 that served as a central feature of the lobby were able to be saved, and now, thanks to the generosity of the Stephenson family, they have come back home to Mexico.

The 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis was conceived by the 15 states in the territory of the Louisiana Purchase to commemorate the centennial of that purchase and to put on display the cultural and scientific advancements since acquiring the land from France. The exhibition, officially known as the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, ran for seven months, from April 30 to Dec. 1, in 1904. There were exhibits from over 60 countries and 43 American states, out of 45 total at the time.

Thomas Jefferson Hoxsey was a successful businessman with experience in the grocery business and in running restaurants in Mexico. He was originally from Illinois but had come to Callaway County at the age of 13 to work in farming. Both his mother and his wife were from Callaway County. Having risen as a promising businessman, he saw the windows during his visit to the 1904 World’s Fair and purchased them to serve as a finishing touch in the design of his new hotel, which had begun construction here in Mexico in 1900 and opened for business in 1904. It was the only European-plan hotel in town and boasted fifty-four guest rooms. The group of three windows, each measuring 4.25 ft x 5 ft, were part of the divider between the lobby and the hotel dining room, which could seat 175 people.

Melvin Lee “Bob” Stephenson and his wife Joyce bought the Hoxsey around 1949 and ran it until it was destroyed by fire in 1980. They were able to salvage the windows and made them part of a new sunroom being added to their home, the old Doc Adams House. When Bob and Joyce sold their home, the windows were passed on to their son, Mark Stephenson, and his wife, Harley, who used them to decorate their own home in Texas.

Last month Mark and Harley generously decided it was time for the ornate windows to come back home to Mexico. They will ultimately be installed at the Audrain County Historical Society, where they’ll be available for all to see, while renewing their artistic utility.

“Our donors really breathe life into the stories we are able to share through our collections, and this is another great example of that,” Audrain County Historical Society executive director Lori Pratt said.

For now, the windows remain in their wooden crates, but that will change in the coming months. The society plans to install the windows in spring 2022, when they will be hung in the glass corridor entering the horse museum.