(NEXSTAR) — What do you do when you first get to a hotel room? Do you immediately turn on the comfort TV shows that always seem to be on in hotels? Maybe you prepare to go check out the pool or stash a shoe in the room safe . At some point, you may even find yourself turning to the drawers in the room to see if there’s anything good hiding in them. In your perusal, you’ll often come across a specific version of the Bible.
You have a pair of Wisconsin businessmen and a hotel in Montana to thank for the Bible you find in the drawer of your bedside table, regardless of the version you have. It all started in 1898. As the story goes , John H.
Nicholson, of Janesville, checked into the bustling Central Hotel in Boscobel, roughly 70 miles west of Madison. Because the hotel was nearly full, Nicholson found himself rooming with Beloit’s Samuel E. Hill.
Despite being strangers, the pair quickly found themselves called “to begin developing an Association.” The next year, Nicholson and Hill met in Beaver Dam and agreed their association would bring “Christian commercial travelers together for mutual recognition, personal evangelism, and united service for the Lord.” They would later become the Gideons.
As traveling men, the Gideons focused on being “effective witnesses in hotels.” It wasn’t until late 1908, however, that they fulfilled their first order for Bibles in a hotel. It was started by Archie Bailey , an accountant for a railroad contractor.
According to Th.
