Eppley Hotel Company
| Type | Privately held |
|---|---|
| Industry | Hospitality |
| Founded | 1917 |
| Founder | Eugene C. Eppley |
| Headquarters | , |
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 in 1930. Eppley built the Warrior in 1929 with the Grand Opening being December 20th 1930. 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 | ||||
| Lincoln, Nebraska | |||||
| Hotel Capital | Lincoln, Nebraska | ||||
| 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. | |||
| Omaha, Nebraska | |||||
| Omaha, Nebraska | |||||
| Hotel Alex Johnson | Rapid City, South Dakota | ||||
| Sioux Falls, South Dakota | |||||
| Sioux Falls, South Dakota | |||||
| Hotel Warrior | Sioux City, Iowa | ||||
| Hotel Martin | Sioux City, Iowa | ||||
| Sioux City, Iowa | |||||
| Hotel Tallcorn | Marshalltown, Iowa | ||||
| Hotel Chieftain | Council Bluffs, Iowa | ||||
| Clinton, Iowa | |||||
| Cedar Rapids, Iowa | |||||
| Cedar Rapids, Iowa | |||||
| Hotel Seelbach | Louisville, Kentucky | ||||
| 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. Archived 2008-02-08 at the Wayback Machine Sioux City Museum. Retrieved 2/3/08.
- ^ "Introduction"[permanent dead link], 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
- Defunct companies based in Omaha, Nebraska
- Hotel chains in the United States
- Hospitality companies established in 1917
- 1917 establishments in Nebraska
- United States hotel stubs