Eppley Hotel Company
| Type | Privately held |
|---|---|
| Industry | Hospitality |
| Founded | 1917 |
| Founder(s) | Eugene C. Eppley |
| Headquarters | Omaha, Nebraska, United States |
The Eppley Hotel Company was located in Omaha, Nebraska. At the time of its acquisition by the Sheraton Corporation in 1956, it was the largest privately held hotel business in the United States.[1]
About
Owned by hotel magnate Eugene C. Eppley, the company was established in 1917. There were 22 hotels spread across six states.[2]
Properties
The 22 hotels in the Eppley Hotel Company's portfolio included Pittsburgh's William Penn Hotel, the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky and Hotel Fontenelle in Omaha, Nebraska.
Other properties included 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. The West Hotel was razed in 1953. Sioux City's Warrior Hotel was built with the name "Fontenelle Hotel" in 1930. Known as the Warrior Hotel soon thereafter, Eppley bought the Warrior in 1936. Eppley Hotels sold the Warrior 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.
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]
| 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 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 | ||||
| Hotel Tallcorn | Marshalltown, Iowa | ||||
| Hotel Chieftain | Council Bluffs, Iowa | ||||
| Hotel Montrose | Cedar Rapids, Iowa | ||||
| Hotel Magnas | 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]
See also
- History of Omaha
- Economy of Omaha, Nebraska
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. 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
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