Windsor Hotel (Garden City)

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A 1907 recording by Francis Marion Steele
Image from a similar perspective from 2013

The Windsor Hotel is a former hotel in Garden City , Kansas .

Description and history

The four-storey hotel with 125 guest rooms was built in 1887 and opened in 1889. At that time it was considered a future-oriented building, especially because of its three-story atrium with a glass roof, around which the rooms were arranged. This atrium was surrounded on three sides by a gallery with a mahogany railing from which the rooms could be entered.

The building was known as the " Waldorf of the Prairies", which was particularly popular with wealthy cattle traders. In 1972 the hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places , and in 1977 it was closed. The Finney County Preservation Alliance is trying to renovate and reopen the hotel on a smaller scale.

Garden City only had 378 residents in 1885. But John Stevens, who had the hotel built, correctly foresaw that the population would soon increase with new settlements. In 1887 it was already 2379. The hotel's opening ceremony was hailed by the local press as the beginning of a new era of wealth. Lillian Russell , Buffalo Bill and Jay Gould , among others, are said to have stayed in the luxuriously furnished “Presidential Suite” . The shine did not last long, however, because the speculative bubble burst and many people left Finney County again. In 1893 Stevens lost his hotel, which went into the hands of a trust and was managed by DR Menke. It changed hands several times before it was taken over in 1938 by the Garnand family, who had it managed by Raymond Baird. He worked there for 25 years. It was closed for fire protection reasons.

The restoration of the building is only progressing slowly; retail space is planned on the ground floor, and a small brewery, which is to be equipped with furniture in the style of the late 19th century, would fit in well with the concept. The usage plans for the former hotel range from apartments to studios or studios for artists.

In Truman Capote's historical novel In Cold Blood , the hotel is mentioned several times.

literature

  • Beccy Tanner: Windsor Hotel graces skyline of Garden City . In: The Wichita Eagle . February 3, 2013 ( kansas.com ).

Web links

Commons : Windsor Hotel (Garden City)  - Collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ National Register of Historical Places - Windsor Hotel (PDF).
  2. ↑ Windsor Hotel, Kansas City at kansassampler.org
  3. ↑ Windsor Hotel Restoration Project on gardencity.net
  4. ↑ Santiago Kahn: Windsor Hotel restoration is slow but steady. KSNW, February 2, 2017, accessed May 21, 2018 .

Coordinates: 37 ° 58 ′ 7.3 ″  N , 100 ° 52 ′ 24 ″  W.