Prior to the Civil War, Lawrence lay in the midst of the vicious Missouri/Kansas Border War and this old hotel was burned down twice in the mid 1800s.

The original hotel, called the Free State Hotel, was built in 1855 by settlers from the New England Emigrant Aid Society.  It was named the Free State Hotel to make clear the intent of those early settlers -- which was that Kansas should come into the Union as a free state.  The Free State Hotel was intended as temporary quarters for those settlers waiting for their homes to be built.

The Eldridge Hotel today, courtesy the Eldridge Hotel

By 1863, Quantrill recruited others who joined his company including “Bloody” Bill Anderson and the James brothers. In the summer of 1863 they set their sites on Lawrence, Kansas - the site of their most infamous destruction.

Early on the morning of August 21, 1863, Quantrill along with his murderous force of about 400, descended on the still sleeping town of Lawrence. Incensed by the free-state headquarters town, Quantrill set out on his revenge against the Jayhawker community. In this carefully orchestrated early morning raid he and his band, in four terrible hours, turned the town into a bloody and blazing inferno unparallel in its brutality.  Quantrill and his bushwhacker mob of raiders began their reign of terror at 5:00 a.m., looting and burning as they went, bent on total destruction of the town, then less than 3,000 residents.  By the time it was over, they had killed approximately 180 men and boys, and left Lawrence nothing more than smoldering ruins.

The proud City of Lawrence was determined to rebuild and quickly adopted the motto “from ashes to immortality.”  Using an original cornerstone from the burned hotel, Colonel Eldridge promptly rebuilt the hotel, which opened again in 1865 with a new name -- The Hotel Eldridge. 

In 1867, Colonel Eldridge built the Broadway House in Kansas City, now known as the Coates house. In 1877, he built the Eldridge house at Coffeyville and the next year the Otis House in Atchison.  Colonel Eldridge died January 16, 1899 in Lawrence at the age of 82.

For the next several decades the Eldridge Hotel stood as one of the finest hotels west of the Mississippi and continued to play an important role in the early development of Lawrence and the State of Kansas.  But by 1925, the hotel had begun to deteriorate, when a group of Lawrence business leaders decided that due to the hotel’s importance to the city, that it should be torn down and rebuilt to its former dignity and elegance.  The community stepped forth to insure the success of the undertaking and the hotel again displayed its former splendor.

However, by the 1960’s it had again began to deteriorate and trends had changed.  Downtown hotels were no longer popular, given over to the many motels springing up on the outskirts of town.  Finally, the old hotel closed its doors on July 1, 1970 and was converted into apartments.

However, in 1985, a new group of investors again wanted to restore the old hotel to its former splendor and the City of Lawrence supported the project by committing two million dollars to match the one million raised by private investors.  The top four floors of the hotel were completely rebuilt and converted into 48 two room luxury suites and the lobby was restored to its original elegance.

It is no surprise with its rich history that the hotel continues to host some ghostly spirits. 

The fifth floor is said to contain a portal to the spirit world – especially room 506.  In this room witnesses have reported breath marks on recently cleaned mirrors, doors opening and shutting on their own, and lights turning on and off by themselves.

Others report cold spots throughout the old hotel.  Some guests have even encountered apparitions on the fifth floor and an “elevator ghost” likes to open and close the elevator doors on the fifth floor.  Several photographers have also mentioned having inexplicable technical difficulties with their cameras when near the elevator.

The hotel is located at the corner of Massachusetts and 7^th streets in downtown Lawrence, Kansas.

Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, © February, 2004

Also See:

Lawrence, Kansas - From Ashes to Immortality

Bleeding Kansas and the Missouri Border War

William Quantrill - Renegade Leader of the Missouri Border War

William Quantrill - The Man, the Myth, the Soldier by Paul R. Peterson

Great American Bars and Saloons

By Kathy Weiser

Owner/Editor of Legends of America

Kathy Weiser's first venture into the publishing world takes you into the many watering holes of America's past, particularly the numerous saloons that sprouted up during our nation's Wild West days. This great photographic review displays hundreds of vintage photographs from California to Arizona, the mining camps of Colorado, all the way to New York and its turbulent days of Prohibition.

Hardcover, 2006, 224 Pages. Signed by the author!!
 

New - $17.95 -  Item #kw001