By Gabbie Burton
Contributing Writer

Square Roots Collective celebrated the grand opening of The Francis Hotel and Suites in Kennett Square on Tuesday, March 10. Guests at the event heard remarks from the Square Roots Collective team as well as from other local leaders before touring the eight-room hotel and enjoying drinks and food provided by The Creamery. 

Square Roots Collective is a Kennett Square-based non-profit that operates local businesses including The Creamery and the Artelo hotel and invests 100 percent of profits back into the community through initiatives that support organizations such as Voices Underground, the Kennett Trails Alliance, Anson B. Nixon Park, Family Promise and more. 

The opening of The Francis, located at 205 South Union Street, adds another opportunity for Square Roots to generate funding and continue supporting the Kennett Square community. 

“It's thrilling to see these tangible efforts come to fruition,” said Michael Bontrager, founder of Square Roots Collective. “Everything we do – like The Creamery, the trails, Voices Underground, Artelo – they're all tangible manifestations of some of our intangible objectives which is encouraging the community to work together to build the best community that we can be.”

Chester County Commissioner Marian Moskowitz and Kennett Square Mayor Matt Fetick thanked Bontrager and the Square Roots team for its work in the community during their remarks. 

In her opening comments, Co-CEO Stephanie Almanza explained that Square Roots Collective owned the previously vacant property of The Francis and looked into the history of the building to decide what to do with it. When they found the stories the over 200 year old building held, they knew they had to create a way to tell those stories to the community. 

“When the Square Roots Collective team thought about what potential might be here, it really helped to listen to the building and tell its stories,” Almanza said. “We learned that it was owned by a watchmaker. We learned that it most likely housed British troops during the American Revolution. We learned that the place name of Kennett came with an early settler of the region named Francis Smith.” 

Each of the eight rooms in the hotel tell one of those stories or celebrate another piece of Kennett Square history. 

Room one, called the Watchmaker, tells the story of the house’s previous owner, Thomas Milhous. The room features a king size bed, pull-out sofa, sitting room and full bathroom. The design of the room echoed its prior owner through concentric designs, books paying homage to Milhous’ birthplace of Ireland, clock art on the walls and rabbit motifs. Even the inclusion of rabbits in the room was intentional as the animal is crepuscular, meaning they are most active at dawn and dusk, showing their own interpretation of time. 

Brian and Megan Helmuth of Riverwards General Interior Design designed each of the eight rooms and emphasized the importance of the little details in each room to tell the stories without feeling too obvious or stiff. 

“We spend a lot of time researching and taking a lot of care into everything, things people don't even notice necessarily but might pick up on subconsciously,” Megan said. “There's a lot of those elements that we play into that come through in a really soft way, and they feel organic and natural, but people won’t pick up on them as a literal translation of the story. We’re not making it feel like a museum.” 

Additionally, each room features a miniature detail in the bathroom reflecting the theme of the room. Brian described the miniatures on each bathroom wall as a pop of whimsy and fun for those guests interested in finding and enjoying it.

Megan explained that they have been working on collecting pieces and designing each room for about two years. Each room features a custom bed frame that the couple designed themselves as well as locally sourced art, furniture and light fixtures the couple has been collecting for years that all come together to complete each room. 

Room two, called the General, honors the Battle of the Brandywine that occurred not far from Kennett Square. Details in this room include the light fixture meant to look like buttons on an army coat and a china set room featuring Betsy Ross and Paul Revere that the couple collected before this project even began, but felt right at home in this room. 

Other stories told through the rooms include the Gardener honoring the mushroom industry and gardening history of the region. The Legacy suite tells the story of the Kennett Square Pennock family, which included everything from abolitionists to entrepreneurs to a New York Yankees pitching great. 

The Founder room tells the story of Kennett’s founding and honors the Lenape tribes who first lived on the land, the founder of Pennsylvania William Penn, and Francis Smith, who ultimately named Kennett. Francis Smith is the inspiration for the hotel’s name. The Educator loft is inspired by the teachers of Kennett Square and the educational history of the area. The Builder loft celebrates the diversity of Kennett and honors the Hispanic communities that have shaped the region. 

The Abolitionist room, the only room with its own balcony, was one that the Helmuths took special care in planning. The room tells the important story of freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad and the abolitionists who helped them.

“We wanted to be really sensitive and take care to make sure we weren't being overly focused on the history of slavery, but highlighting the freedom that they achieved,” Megan explained. “Being authentic to that journey and the history of it, we took a lot of care and time to make sure it was right.” 

In addition to the eight rooms, the hotel also features a courtyard with all landscaping and outdoor designs handled by Josh Cauffman of GreenRoots Design. 

The opening event celebrated the collaboration of all those involved with creating the hotel while honoring both the history and future of Kennett Square. By looking back through Kennett Square’s history, Square Roots Collective aims to improve the town’s future. While the hotel is only just getting started, the Square Roots Collective team is hopeful for its impact in continuing their community investment. 

“There's care running through every room, just like our town,” Almanza said. “It's the same care that drives our Square Roots team to build ventures for the good of our region.”