The humble barrack was replaced with an impressive, two-story structure with a double-brick fire wall that Ball requested. Ball had lost a successful saloon in Creede to a devastating fire and was not going to make the same mistake twice. He hired local builder I.G. Mitchell to help make his dream come true. He designed five large arched windows and instructed the masonry crew in a distinctive design still unique in the 21st century. Above all of it was an engraved flagstone with the name Meeker Hotel and below it in smaller print, R.S. Ball. Throughout the next thirty years, Ball carefully labeled most pieces of Meeker Hotel furniture with these same initials. There are many people in the area who still have antique furniture with R.S. Ball carved neatly into them. In 1904, only eight years his last improvements, Ball felt compelled to expand again. I.G. Mitchell was once again used to add an east and west wing and attention was paid to continuing the same style. Arched windows and corbeled cornices added nice flair to what had become a large brick structure, constituting 200,000 bricks, all shipped by freight wagon from Rifle, Colorado. Among many other things, R.S. Ball left the hotel with a legacy that would carry throughout the next 125 years. His love of hunting and adventure (he traveled to Cuba and Alaska once he had his hotel on solid ground) can still be seen today. Ball created an extraordinary hunting trophy collection that unbeknownst to him has inspired later owners. The names hanging below many of the mounts are Ball, Dunbar, Dunn and Ritchie (all past or current owners). Others are of friends and relatives who over the years have contributed to the Meeker Hotel's rich heritage. A legacy and tribute to the hotel's White River history, the collection is exhibited in the hotel lobby and throughout the hotel. In the spring of 1923, the Ball family sold the Meeker Hotel to Mr. and Mrs. Clarence P. Mathis. In 1935, the hotel was purchased by Paul and Goldie Dunn. The Dunn's were responsible for making extensive improvements, the most important of which was adding bathrooms as well as steam heat. The Dunn's operated the hotel for nearly thirty years. During the late sixties and seventies, the hotel's ownership shifted a number of times. It was owned by a Louisiana oil man as well as a hopeful miner, but in 1979 it was purchased by Dave Stewart. In the next seventeen years, Stewart continued the long process of slowly upgrading and renovating the building.