Nate Crook, so the legend goes, came to West Branch in the 1860s short of cash, but long on ambition. He arrived from Wayne County, Indiana, with a new wife and $40. He was desperate for work. When the railroad came to town, Crook took a job filling the bellies of thirsty steam locomotives with water. That was in 1870, the same year a large, two-story wooden business building was being erected by J.W. Witter at the crossroads of Commerce Street (later named Main Street) and Mechanics Street (later named Downey Street). The basement housed a meat market. The town's first newspaper, The Index, had its offices on the second floor.

Crook left his job at the rail yards in 1871 and rented space in Witter's new building for a barbershop and restaurant. On September 1, 1877, Crook expanded his operation into a hotel, with the addition of two sleeping rooms. To accommodate travelers with horses, he added a livery and feed stable out back. Guests who arrived in West Branch by train were provided free rides to and from the east-side depot, a clever way of getting them beyond Frank Savage's National Hotel just a half-block south of the depot. Such aggressiveness and foresight earned Nathan Crook a reputation as one of early West Branch's most progressive businessmen. He was responsible for the town's first sidewalks, streetlights and arc lights. His generosity was legendary.

The spectacular fire of August 30, 1895, which destroyed a row of wooden commercial buildings along the south side of West Main Street, very nearly gutted Crook's Hotel, too. When the volunteers of West Branch's Rescue Hook and 21 Ladder and Engine Company stopped the fire within three feet of his hotel, Crook expressed his thanks by presenting Fire Chief W.E. Bingham with a $50 bill.

Fire Prompts Renovation
During the fall of 1895, as adjacent property owners rebuilt from the fire, Crook hired a team of workmen to remodel his hotel. They widened the barbershop by three feet, installed a new roof and new floors, and replaced the old plaster, paint and wallpaper. In February of 1897, carpenters returned to add more second-story sleeping rooms. By 1898, West Branch had prospered to the point where a second bank was being planned. Nate Crook had prospered, too, and he would become both the vice-president of the new Citizens' Savings Bank and the builder of the new bank's first permanent home (Leech Building). In late 1905, there was talk around town that Nate Crook was ready to retire from the hotel business. By then, he was 61 years old, and his hotel building had been the cornerstone of downtown West Branch for 35 years.
Before he leased the building, he had it renovated, much to the delight of West Branch citizens. "It has been reported that N.H. Crook has decided to renovate his hotel building on the corner and fix it up for a first class hotel," The West Branch Times reported on September 28, 1905. "This is something West Branch has long been in need of and an improvement that will be appreciated by the traveling public. Mr. Crook is to be congratulated on his public spirit and will receive the thanks of a long-suffering public as well as doing a good thing for himself."

Workers broke ground in October of 1905 for a two-story addition that extended the south wall of the hotel building by 19 feet toward Wetherell Street. By the first week of November, the front of the building had been remodeled, and a new plate glass window had been installed. By December 1, T.T. Barrington of West Branch had outfitted the building with a modern steam heating plant. Once the work was completed, Crook leased his building to W.J. Moylan, who used it as a new location for another West Branch hotel. "The European Hotel was moved across the street to the newly fitted building, better known as the old Crook Hotel, last Monday," The West Branch Times reported on December 7, 1905. "West Branch can now boast of as good, comfortable and well conducted a hotel as can be found on the line of the Rock Island. The dining room is light, cheerful, well fitted and cozy as can be found anywhere and with the steam heat the whole building will be comfortable during the coming cold weather."

Although it's unclear from surviving records what year Crook bought the Witter Building, he continued to own it until he died in a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, hospital on July 27, 1930, at age 86. In his obituary, The West Branch Times commended Crook's community spirit as helping to provide the momentum that allowed West Branch to evolve into a thriving commercial center during the turn of the century: "In his prime he was noted as a keen business man and few things in the community were under-taken without his help and service."
The relocated European Hotel would eventually be replaced by the Julien Hotel and, later, the Hoover Hotel. The west half of the building's first floor was home over the years to a series of cafes. A major renovation in 1965 resulted in the opening of the Century House restaurant and, later, the well known Hoover House Restaurant.