Pat Kelly was surprised when a longtime patron organized a fund drive to help him and his wife keep the historic Doyle Hotel in Duncannon open.

He was even more surprised when 255 people pitched in to raise more than $10,000.

"I didn't realize I had this many friends and that people really cared this much," Pat Kelly said Saturday, his voice cracking. "I'm blessed, I guess."

After meeting with the bank next week, the 73-year-old said the majority of the funds -- which were still coming in after the goal was met -- will go toward settling $9,000 in back taxes. The rest will help pay $2,000 in mortgage debt and several outstanding repairs on the nearly 111-year-old building.

Kelly said the business, which he bought after his retirement in 2000, has always been seasonal. This winter, however, was more difficult than most.

"We just weren't getting customers," he said. "Fifty dollars a day will only pay for the lights."

The Doyle was first built as a three-story, wooden lodge in the 1770s along the Susquehanna River. After a fire in the early 1900s, the hotel was rebuilt with brick and today serves as a landmark for hikers along the Appalachian Trail. About 1,200 hikers stopped into the Doyle last year, Kelly said.

"Many, many thanks to everyone who lent support for the trail and the hotel by your donations, social networking skills, patronage at the Doyle, word of mouth, comments and reminiscences," read a message on the crowdsourcing website GoFundMe by Anne Kearney, a regular hotel patron who moderated the fund drive.

Pat Kelly, who owns the business with his wife Vickey, said the fund drive wasn't only successful in raising money. It also grew awareness about the business. In recent days, he said, more and more customers have stopped in.

"The influx we had from this last three days, half of them I'd never seen before," he said.

Prior to taking over the hotel, Kelly said the Doyle had a reputation as a raucous bar.

"When we first bought it, we survived on a bunch of drunks," he said. "They spent a lot of money, drank a lot of beer and we survived."

But the Kellys worked to change that.

"We wouldn't let them smoke, wouldn't let them cuss, wouldn't over-serve them," he said.

That reputation was difficult to overcome. The media coverage that came with the fund drive and the possibility of the Doyle's demise, however, may turn that around.

"A lot of people still look at the Doyle as a dirty, stinky, nuisance bar," he said. "We hope all this promotion showed we aren't that anymore. I really think we can turn that around."