Eppley Hotel Company
The Eppley Hotel Company was located in Omaha, Nebraska. At the time of its acquisition by the Sheraton Corporation in 1956, it had 22 properties, and it was the largest privately held hotel business in the United States.[1]
| Type | Privately held |
|---|---|
| Industry | Hospitality |
| Founded | 1917 |
| Founder | Eugene C. Eppley |
| Headquarters | , |
About
Owned by hotel magnate Eugene C. Eppley, the company was established in 1917. By 1956 there were 22 hotels spread across six states.[2]
Properties
Of the 22 hotels in the Eppley Hotel Company's portfolio that were sold to Sheraton in 1956, some of the most notable hotels included Pittsburgh's William Penn Hotel, the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky the Hotel Fontenelle in Omaha, Nebraska and Sioux City's Warrior Hotel that was built in 1929 but had its Grand Opening December 20th 1930.
Eppley Hotels sold the Warrior and most of its hotel assets to the Sheraton Corporation of America in 1956.[3]
Omaha's Hotel Fontenelle was built in 1914. An exquisite venue, the Fontenelle hosted dignitaries and luminaries of all sorts, including Presidents Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy. After Eppley sold it to the Sheraton corporation, the hotel eventually went to ruins, closing in the 1970s. It was demolished in 1983.
The West Hotel in Sioux City, Iowa, which was built in 1903 and became part of the Eppley chain of hotels in the mid-1930s was razed in 1953.
In 1927, Eppley commissioned four murals by Grant Wood for his hotels in Council Bluffs, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo and Sioux City. The original piece painted for Eppley's Martin Hotel dining room in Sioux City, one of the Corn Room series, is now located in the Sioux City Art Center.[4]
| List Hotels in the Eppley chain | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | City | Notes | |||
| Hotel Norfolk | Norfolk, Nebraska | ||||
| Hotel Lincoln | Lincoln, Nebraska | ||||
| Hotel Capital | Lincoln, Nebraska | ||||
| Hotel Lindell | Lincoln, Nebraska | ||||
| Hotel Fontenelle | Omaha, Nebraska | Built in 1914, this hotel was Omaha's prominent hotel for more than 50 years. It was demolished in 1983. | |||
| Hotel Rome | Omaha, Nebraska | ||||
| Logan Apartment Hotel | Omaha, Nebraska | ||||
| Hotel Alex Johnson | Rapid City, South Dakota | ||||
| Hotel Cataract | Sioux Falls, South Dakota | ||||
| Hotel Carpenter | Sioux Falls, South Dakota | ||||
| Hotel Warrior | Sioux City, Iowa | ||||
| Hotel Martin | Sioux City, Iowa | ||||
| Hotel West | Sioux City, Iowa | Razed in 1953 | |||
| Hotel Tallcorn | Marshalltown, Iowa | ||||
| Hotel Chieftain | Council Bluffs, Iowa | ||||
| Hotel Lafayette | Clinton, Iowa | ||||
| Hotel Montrose | Cedar Rapids, Iowa | ||||
| Hotel Magnus | Cedar Rapids, Iowa | ||||
| Hotel Seelbach | Louisville, Kentucky | ||||
| Hotel Fort Pitt | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | ||||
| Hotel William Penn | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | ||||
| Hotel Alexandria | Los Angeles, California | ||||
| Elms Hotel | Excelsior Springs, Missouri | ||||
Merger
Eugene Eppley sold the company to Sheraton Hotels in 1956 for $30 million. The hotel chain's sale was, at the time, the second largest hotel sale in United States history.[5]
References
- "Closing the Gap", Time magazine. June 4, 1956. Retrieved 2/3/08.
- "Closing the Gap", Time magazine. June 4, 1956. Retrieved 2/3/08.
- Take a step back in time: Nebraska Street walking tour. Archived 2008-02-08 at the Wayback Machine Sioux City Museum. Retrieved 2/3/08.
- "Introduction", Sioux City Art Center. Retrieved 2/2/08.
- "Closing the Gap", Time magazine. June 4, 1956. Retrieved 2/3/08.
External links
- Restaurant Ware Pattern & Other Ephemera from the hotel chain