Captain John E. Smith, Seneca's first entrepreneur, built a simple hotel and tavern on this site in 1858 and also built a wooden bridge over the Nemaha River that bypassed the risky ford crossing two miles north at Richmond. These developments convinced the firm of Russell, Majors, and Waddell to run their Overland Stage and Pony Express routes through Seneca, and the Smith Hotel became the first Pony Express Home Station west of St. Joseph. The hotel offered comfortable beds and good meals for weary travelers heading west, while Pony Express riders were encouraged to avoid the tavern and go straight to bed for a good night's rest before leaving the next day. After the Pony Express ended in 1861, Smith sold the hotel and Main Street grew up around it. In 1870 the first railroad arrived in Seneca, and merchants wanted more prosperous-looking brick and stone buildings on Main. A brick addition to the right of the original hotel added more modern rooms, and eventually the original wooden structure was lifted and moved down Main to the north side of 7th Street, where it became a rooming house. In 1885, the corner space was filled by a brick building.