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Jake Shapira (1847-1904) and his wife, Sarah Shapira (18571925), were both Russian-born Jews who arrived in Madisonville 1855. They had a general store and a saloon on the town square. Recognizing the needs of traveling salesmen inspired them to build a boarding house onto the back of their home. The home burned in 1903. Jake stepped on a nail on the eve of a daughter’s wedding, and he died of tetanus three weeks later. Sarah and their son, David, built the Shapira Hotel and opened it in 1904. They ran it together until 1922, when they leased it out and ultimately sold it in 1928. Since that sale, the structure operated as first the Wills Hotel and then the Woodbine. At the time being, it is a restaurant.