The Munsons own Munson’s Angus Farm in Geary County. They bought the Brookville Hotel in Abilene for $926,000 at a bankruptcy sale last Monday. They said they plan to continue the legacy of Munson beef, as well as the legacy of the Brookville.

The Munsons’ Junction City steakhouse restaurant, Munson Prime, burned down in February 2021 after seven years of operation.

The Munsons had tried to buy the Brookville Hotel; last spring they announced that they were buying it and planned to combine the two restaurants into one. But days later, the deal fell through, and the Brookville owners, Connie and Mark Martin, said the parties couldn’t agree to terms of a contract.

According to the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office and Dickinson County Treasurer’s Office, the Martins’ company owed more than $160,000 in back property taxes at that time and ended up in foreclosure.

The Munsons said in a statement they believed they had an agreement in principle to purchase the hotel assets and had tried to speed up the opening process to get ahead of summer travel demands.

After the restaurant burned down, Deanna Munson said she and Chuck debated whether they should open another restaurant. With Legacy Kansas, they hope to show off the meat they produce and keep the legacy of both restaurants alive.

“Now it turned out we are doing it on our own, but we are still continuing forward with that same concept,” Deanna said. “It will be a combination of the best of both worlds of Munson’s Prime and Brookville Hotel, which means we will showcase our high-end stake and our burgers and we will showcase the traditional, family-style chicken dinner that Brookville is known for.”

The subtitle of the location will be “Munson’s Prime, Brookville Hotel and Beyond,” she said. They plan to open June 24.

Deanna Munson said they are planning a few new additions, including a full bar and old-fashioned ice cream freezers for “homemade” ice cream.

The building has six rooms on its first floor. One will hold the full upscale bar and the other five will be split between dining rooms where the restaurant will serve the traditional fried chicken for which Brookville was known rooms where it will serve the beef meals for which Munson’s Prime was known.

“That’s how I think this concept can work very well,” Deanna said. “By using the rooms dedicated to one or the other. How many we use for each purpose depends on where the demand is.”

She said future plans include catering, adding a “grill-and-go” trailer with a burger menu and possibly opening the upstairs rooms in the building to showcase historic room decor to tourists.

The Brookville Hotel closed in October 2020, citing lack of traffic related to the pandemic. The restaurant first opened in the town of Brookville in 1870. It moved to the new building in Abilene in 2000. The restaurant was known for a set menu with fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy served family style.

www.junctioncityunion.com/news/munsons-to-combine-kansas-legacies-through-brookville-hotel-purchase/article_ff14ebce-bdfa-5224-b4e5-96afb1d6cca9.html