Iowa is home to several unique and historic hotels. Each of these properties owns a slice of Iowa history and makes for a memorable stay. I hope you will book a stay at some of these one-of-a-kind properties.

Walking up the front steps of the newly opened Hotel Grinnell, it feels like you’re walking into a school building. That’s because you are. Built in 1921, the structure in the heart of Grinnell has served as a junior high, city hall and a church before being converted over the last year into a luxury hotel.

Hotel Grinnell is a 45-room boutique hotel that includes a 300 seat ballroom, a 450 seat auditorium, a lobby bar and outdoor patio. The project is an adaptive reuse of the city’s 1921 Junior High School in the center of downtown Grinnell.

For weeks, Angela Harrington had been getting the same question: when would the Hotel Grinnell open? That answer is now. In an effort spanning at least 10 years, city leaders and Harrington had been trying to figure out how to open a hotel downtown.

It started with a request from the Grinnell Business Community, "We need an events center..." What they got was the Hotel Grinnell a re- Angela Harrington IOB 6 Sept 2018purposed 1921 school building in the heart of the town of 10,000.

You’ll want to be kept after class at the Hotel Grinnell, a boutique hotel that just happens to have taken over an old junior high school building.

We were invited to come and stay at the Hotel Grinnell, in Grinnell Iowa. Where is that, I hear you ask? More on that later! This hotel is in a converted school house, so has a homeschooling family, this piqued our interest.

Perkins + Will Jazzes Up a Former Junior High for the Hotel Grinnell in Iowa Adolescence doesn’t usually factor into hospitality projects. But for Iowa’s Hotel Grinnell, Perkins + Will transformed a former junior high into a unique hotel that pays homage to the site’s history.

Located within walking distance of Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa is one of the best hotels in the state.

Iowa's capital city was recently tapped as the fastest growing city in the Midwest, and that means some serious changes.

The Hotel Grinnell in Grinnell Iowa, is located in what was a former junior high school building that dates back to 1921. The school was in operation until the late 1970’s. It has now been transformed into a modern hotel with 43 bedrooms and suites, a restaurant and bar, a ballroom and a theatre!

A popular Iowa college town offers visitors a peaceful, quiet visit with interesting things to do and great pizza.

Hotel Grinnell is a one-of-a-kind boutique hotel in downtown Grinnell, Iowa. This is by far the most unique hotel I’ve ever stayed in. That’s because it was once a junior high school, and instead of gutting the building, its owners, Steve Holtze and Angela Harrington, decided to embrace the building’s scholastic past.

In 2009, the self-described ‘serial entrepreneur’ Angela Harrington arrived in Grinnell, Iowa, wanting to reinvent herself. After the economic crash the previous year, the Denver, Colo., native moved to Grinnell and accepted a position with the city’s Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors Bureau. However, her first marching orders from the board required tapping into her entrepreneurial past and would result in one of her, and Grinnell’s, proudest accomplishments.

Hotel Grinnell offers a welcoming green hotel stay in the heart of the Midwest. Hotel Grinnell is in a former 1921 junior high school.

The more you travel to big destinations and famous cities, the harder it gets to appreciate them. You can’t really hate on world-class chefs and major league sports, but after you’ve lugged your suitcase up enough subway stairs and drained your bank account on $18 cocktails, you start thinking that small towns might have just as much to offer. And, for short stays, many of them do.

Once a junior high school, Hotel Grinnell is a chic and modern luxury hotel that has earned an A+ in our grade book. Located just an hour’s drive east of Des Moines, Iowa, Hotel Grinnell melds its literal old school history with innovative designs and amenities for today’s contemporary traveler.

Every year, the Boutique Community honors the finest in the industry at the Stay Boutique Conference. Founded in 2010, this is one of the highest honor to receive in the Boutique Community.

In the restaurant world, chefs love experimentation. You could say that ingredients are a veritable "periodic table" for chefs' chemistry of creativity. That's why on Nov. 1, Hotel Grinnell — located about an hour east of Des Moines — will be the new home for a pop-up restaurant, Cilino’s. Cilino’s will temporarily replace the hotel's current restaurant, The Periodic Table, for six months.

Independent hoteliers realized in 2020 that there were a lot of things they could live without spending capital expenditures on, and in 2021 they plan to continue that streamlined focus.

Hotel Grinnell, Grinnell, Iowa: Inside a revamped 1921 junior high school are 52 rooms and suites designed for couples (with heated tubs for two) to groups (10-bed bunk rooms). Room keys look like a hall pass. Accommodations, which used to be classrooms, are furnished with original art and iron beds made locally.

As you walk through the halls and staircases of Hotel Grinnell, you might suddenly get the urge that you’re running late for class. But don’t worry, you won’t be docked any points for waking up late here. The building actually served as the town’s junior high school from 1921 until 1978. In 1978, the school sold it to the city.

“Old School” has a whole new meaning when it comes to the Hotel Grinnell! Across from Central Park in Grinell, Iowa, you’ll find an old school that has been beautifully restored and renovated into a boutique hotel!

Entrepreneurship isn’t for the faint of heart — especially during a global pandemic. But hotelier Angela Harrington relied on her tenacity and experience from a previous failure to make it through the tumult.

While Iowa is renowned nationwide for its agricultural prowess, this gem of the Midwest is home to far more than endless cornfields and cattle pastures.

Spend 24 hours with us in Grinnell, Iowa seeing what we saw, drank and ate at Grinnell, Iowa restaurants, Hotel Grinnell, Grinnell College and art gallery, too! Can’t wait to share with you!