Landmark Hotel Apartments

Fifth Avenue Hotel 1922

Hutchinson Kansas was booming in the 1920s, with many new business ventures coming to life. One of those was a brand-new hotel that would spearhead the expansion of the business district north of the railroad tracks. This story of utilizing a hotel as a bridge between an already established business district and a push for expanding across train tracks has been told many times. A great example of this was the Hotel Pines in Pine Bluff Arkansas which did the exact same thing. With the rail service and a passenger depot nearby, this made for an easily access, comfortable and welcoming lodging directly in the business district so those visiting could spend money where they slept.

The idea and investor of the project was Robert Glascock who started the campaign in June of 1922. The project was estimated to cost around $100,000 initially but had more than doubled that by the end of construction. Glascock had secured a 99-year on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Main Street for the purpose of building a five-story hotel. There was a Lutheran Church already on the site that was torn down to make way for it.

The permit was issued in October 1922 and was the largest permit of the month at $150,000. Construction started shortly after on what was being called the “Fifth Avenue Hotel” at the time. The architectural firm of W.E. Hulse and Co. was hired to design it, above is an initial rendering of the building and while almost the same some differences can be noted in the final product.

Robert Glascock was working in partnership with C.W. Stamey and Charles Mackey of Stamey-Mackey Construction Co. to build it. Back in that day, it wasn’t uncommon for large ventures like these to be constructed entirely by local firms, Stamey was no different. Down to the wire, the Hotel was an authentic representation of the growth and success of Hutchinson Kansas.

During an initial press briefing, it was asked if they would keep the name “Fifth Avenue Hotel” to which the proprietors Claude Buchanan and Willis U. Malone said they would decide and announce a name soon. Rumors had been circulating already that it could be called “The Stamey” after C.W. Stamey who held a majority of the stock in the project. It would later officially be announced that they would go with Hotel Stamey – Stamey Hotel as the name.

Stamey Hotel 1923-1957

They were hopeful for an April 1st opening meaning work would ensue through the cold winter. That winter in Hutchinson was particularly brutal and the rotating 40-man crew worked night and day with about 30 fires going. The crew worked diligently to ensure that they could pour the concrete on each of the five floors no matter the weather. To ensure that the water didn’t freeze within the concrete, salt was added after being poured into the forms to lower its freezing point.

The city celebrated the hotel before it had even finished being constructed. Everyone wanted a piece of the new patrons it would bring into the city with many advertising just how close they were to the icon. The city, also wanting it to prosper widened Fifth Avenue to a total of 52 feet to allow for perpendicular parking without interfering with the street cars. Compared to today’s cities, not a ton of parking was needed as most of its guests were traveling by train or other means. Street lighting was added to illuminate the new “White Way” to the hotel.

Claude Buchanan and Willis Malone of Kansas City and their families were the first residents of the Stamey moving into the second floor in July 1923. While the Buchanans lived in an active construction site, Claude and his wife worked together to take care of some of the furnishings. Together they made 298 pillows, each filled with two-and-one-half pounds of goose down. Other furnishings were supplied by local stores including $8,000 in mulberry and silver colored rugs from the Rorabaugh-Wiley Store, and brenlin shades that came in shades of pink and blue from Pegues Wright Department Store. Altogether the hotel had 700 million pounds of materials used. Four train car loads of furniture and mattresses supplied the hotel. The hotel interior was fitted with the most modern amenities available including a $2,500 ice water circulation system that piped ice-cold water into a tap in every room.

The lobby and dining room furniture included walnut chairs and plate-glass top tables. On the mezzanine floor off the lobby, there were writing rooms and ladies’ restrooms. The elevator was the most modern available with an automatic device to prevent it from starting until the door was completely closed, while another device prevented the elevator from freefall.

The Rose Room, the formal dining room of the hotel, was situated on the west end of the first floor and had a 75-person seating capacity. The two-inch oak hardwood floor was covered by a removable carpet to entice social gatherings that included dancing. The room also had a balcony available for small parties. Off of the lobby near the kitchen, the coffee shop, separated from the main lobby by an art-glass partition, was considered the latest trend in hotel service. The coffee shop had a beamed ceiling with paneled walls and porcelain-topped tables. The south side of the room was all windows that could be opened for fresh air circulation that did not blow air directly on guests or tables.

A large 48’ x 10’ kitchen was fitted with a Viking refrigerator, twelve quick-service ranges, two double ovens, a cake griddle and waffle stove and a range with a meat oven. A long white enamel table with a cutting board on each end supported the final preparation of the meals. A modern ventilation system prevented cooking smells from wafting into the lobby or rooms above. The kitchen was well suited to serve over 1,500 diners in a single setting, but the new managers boasted that with two shifts of five cooks each, the hotel could feed 60,000 if required. The dishwashing station was located at the east end of the kitchen with a hinged window to pass dirty dishes from the dining room to the washer.

Each of the 120 rooms was fitted with an iron bed and wood furniture including two chairs, a dressing table, a writing table, a small stand for a reading lamp and a telephone capable of local and long-distance calls. Sixty-eight rooms with baths had hot and cold running water with an additional ice water tap for drinking. Each floor had single and double rooms. The double rooms were marketed to salesmen who could use the second room for showing samples, rather than being relegated to the basement or “a stray corner” of the hotel. On each floor, five larger rooms were available for samples or banquets. The versatility of the room designs likely aided the Stamey to weather the 1930s and war years when men used the hotel for their business office, room and board.

Grand Opening

On opening day, Hutchinson residents were invited to inspect “Hutchinson’s Latest Achievement” and dance the day away in a celebration that went from morning to night on August 22, 1923. The long-awaited grand opening earned a full-page spread in the Hutchinson News-Herald that day.

Retail Spaces in the Stamey

Hotel Stamey was home to more than just hotel guests. Architect W.E. Hulse designed his own office space on the fifth floor with a reception room, a private office, and a drafting room with space for eight drafting tables. His firm occupied the space through the early 1930s. Also on the fifth floor, osteopath Mrs. Belle Davis shared a space with stenographer Lulu Schrader, while oilman I.M. Rupard had his own office.

Local Druggist Fred Weesner, who owned an existing store at 3 S. Main, announced before construction had even begun, that he would open a drug store in the southeast corner of the hotel. The prime location would feature all-glass entrances on both Main and Fifth Avenue, as well as one into the hotel lobby. The new store called Fifth Avenue Drug Store to pay homage to the “original name” was a partnership with another local druggist Woodburn Coffin. A modern carbonate soda fountain was the highlight of the shop. Within the first year, the Main Street storefronts included the drug store and the Carey Real Estate & Investment Company / Salt City Building Loan & Savings Assn. offices.

The Fifth Avenue storefronts included barber G.W. Roach and the Hotel Stamey Coffee Shop. The coffee shop was one of two main dining services and catered to locals as well as travelers. They offered a special merchant’s lunch for fifty cents and special Sunday and Thanksgiving dinners. Advertisements were placed in the local newspapers including one for the high school. Civic clubs including the Kiwanis and various women’s groups used the Stamey dining room for club meetings. The Lions Club secured the first date to use the new dining room.

Conventions and events were booked starting in early 1924; the Kansas Governor made the hotel his headquarters when Hutchinson hosted the 1924 Democratic State Convention. Business boomed when in February 1924, oil was discovered near Hutchinson and a great influx of people commenced. The local newspaper reported that while there were still offices for rent on the fifth floor, every hotel room in the Stamey was taken. Manager Claude Buchanan reported that he had brought in three dozen cots to have beds for the extra guests.

In addition, some people used their double hotel rooms as offices as the owners had intended. Newspaper advertisements listed sales representatives for companies looking to expand into Hutchinson and other nearby markets including an automobile dealer Maxwell-Chrysler and numerous oil drillers offering leases.

The Stamey Hotel has had its fair share of large celebrations including the grand opening day, anytime there was a parade it passed by on the main street and more! Harry Truman made a fine choice staying at Hotel Stamey in November 1926 and wrote to his wife Bess on the eighth anniversary of Armistice Day. Read the first part of his letter here!

It made for a beautiful scene in 1952 when Hutchinson was chosen as a site for the filming of “Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie” by Henry King. Hotel Stamey was chosen as the opening scene of the film and is called “Hotel Sevillinois” located in the town of Sevillinios. In the film a parade is coming through town and the hotel is dressed up in decor, guests can be seen leaning out of windows and as some of the main characters enter the lobby tons of people can be seen congregating. It then transitions to a scene filmed in the harbor shop of the hotel. A handful of stars from the movie stayed at Hotel Stamey during their time filming. The main character Jean Peters was visited there by her boyfriend, Howard Hughes during filming.

Throughout the entire life of Hotel Stamey, it was managed by professional hoteliers. The original hotel operators Buchanan and Malone sold their lease in February 1925 to J.W. Thompson, who had been managing hotels in Kansas City and Pittsburgh, KS. Just over a year later on April 2, 1926, the Hutchinson News announced that partners G.T. Morrow, Malcolm Conn, and Edna Rock of Kansas City would take over management of Stamey Hotel from Thompson. The new partner’s tenure was short-lived and three months later in July 1926, the Hotel Stamey lease was acquired by sisters Bessie Cohn and Mollie Goldstein.

The Goldstein sister’s influence was readily apparent and noticed by the Hutchinson community. Mollie managed the Rose Room, which she redecorated in 1927. Each year the sisters held Christmas dinners for the Western Union messenger boys and the newspaper delivery boys at the hotel’s expense. By the late 1920s, they had built such a repertoire that many out-of-town women were making the Stamey their go-to place, due to the welcoming management of the Goldstein sisters.

It was reported in 1927 that nine oil companies were using the Hotel Stamey as their business offices. Since the hotel was designed for you to have office space while lodging many of its guests were considered lodgers or roomers. The 1930 Federal Census shows a handful of guests as such. Other long-term residents at the time included the hotel beauty shop owner, a cigar and tobacco merchant, a city fireman, an in-home nurse and two farm laborers. Salesmen occupying the rooms had a wide range of specialties varying from oil and real estate to photography, wholesale shoes, and musical instruments. Mollie, Bessie, and several hotel staff also called the Stamey their home.  The year 1932 ushered in changes at the hotel, the most significant was the addition of Bessie and Mollie’s nephew John B. Quigley, who joined them in the management of Hotel Stamey.

The two sisters and their recently added nephew would continue running the hotel until April 4, 1939. They had already seen the trouble of the Great Depression and its effects on not only their business but businesses throughout town and with war looming they sold the lease to Larry Beck and William Cross. Beck and Cross were established hotel proprietors and owned hotels all over Kansas and Missouri.

In January 1943, Beck-Cross Hotel Company bought up all shares of the Stamey Hotel Corporation (formerly the Fifth Avenue Building Company), of which the greatest stockholder was George E. Gano, making them the sole owners. They bought a parking lot on the north side of the hotel and expanded the dining room in 1946, then added air conditioning to the entire hotel, while advertising free parking in 1954. The company motto was “Your Comfort, Our Pleasure Always.”

Landmark Hotel Apartments 1957-2014

In December 1957 local property developer Menzo Hainline bought the hotel from Beck and Cross, they sold off all their hotels to pursue other ventures. He changed the name from Hotel Stamey to Landmark Apartments Hotel because “there’s usually a landmark in every town, and this building is just that.”

Hainline’s intention was to renovate the space, beginning with the fifth floor and working down to the first, keeping the lower floors as a hotel until he finished in the early 1960s. The 1961 city directory shows the Landmark Hotel listed with Stamey Beauty Shop, Landmark Hotel Restaurant, an insurance agent and a handful of apartment renters.

Hainline owned and operated the Landmark for twenty years selling to local realtor Terry Messing in 1977. Few improvements were made over the next thirty-plus years leaving room for maintenance issues to pile up.

In his declining health, Terry listed the Landmark Apartments for sale on eBay for $130,000. It had received two bids from the same bidder but was then deleted. He had also tried to list it on other social media pages. Around this time it had 41 apartments and about 65 percent of them were occupied. Only 80 percent of them were deemed inhabitable. The top floor was riddled with water damage and in some parts, the roof had caved in.

The Landmark Apartments was finally sold by the Messing Estate in December 2014. Dennis and Danielle Sanders of Wichita announced plans to renovate the building and the last nine tenants were evicted. They planned to make moderate-income apartments while still keeping the historical features throughout the building. However, the planned renovation never came to fruition.

The Landmark has continued to sit vacant since 2014 with many windows being open leaving the rooms further exposed to the elements and the open parts of the roof to fester. The only tenants left were the pigeons that had made themselves at home. Many different entities have proposed different ideas and ways to save the building.

Revitalization of the Meyer Landmark 2023-Present

True hope for the Landmark didn’t come until 2023 when Laura Meyer-Dick entered the equation. “We need housing,” Meyer Dick said. “Housing will help bring young people back, and that will help with economic development, and recruiting companies to come and build in Hutchinson.”

But the Hutch native’s deeper reason for taking on the huge project lies within her family roots. As a fourth-generation banker in the town, her father was active in the downtown community and worked hard to support the local businesses.

Laura Meyer Dick took this passion and became a driving force in a new chapter of Hutchinson’s growth. She began discussions with members of the Community Foundation and the Chamber of Commerce and proposed creating a master plan similar to one implemented in Salina, Kansas. They responded with skepticism, understandably as something of this nature would surely cost a pretty penny.

Undeterred, Meyer Dick delved into research and sought proposals for downtown revitalization. After receiving a bid just over $200,000, she committed to raise half of the funds herself if the city leaders would contribute the remaining amount. They agreed, leading to the creation of the Nation Meyer Memorial Fund in memory of her father.

While reaching out for fundraising, Meyer Dick was encouraged to think about redeveloping the dilapidated Landmark Hotel that stood in the town center. She sent her husband, Michael, to evaluate the building, and he came back doubtful. However, just as she did when she was previously met with uncertainty, Laura doubled down and saw a vision for the space.

Creating vibrant downtowns with residential spaces in historic buildings is appealing to younger people—exactly the group Meyer Dick believes Hutchinson needs to attract. And she isn’t wrong, speaking from a young person’s perspective, although a little biased in my love of history, more and more towns are realizing to utilize the buildings they already have and turn them into incredible works of art that are appreciated by audience young and old.

She has chosen the name Meyer Landmark as a tribute to her dad and the hard work that is to ensue over the next 2 years to get the project completed.“He put ‘community’ right up there with our family,” Meyer Dick said of her late father. “He said, ‘The community has given our family a lot over four generations and we need to make sure we give back to the community.’ I remember him saying that a lot. And he was very driven to pull things together and connect people to make projects work.”

Article by Emily Cowan and Brenda Spencer of Spencer Preservation

Gallery Below of Landmark Hotel

If you wish to support our current and future work, please consider making a donation or purchasing one of our many books. Any and all donations are appreciated.

Donate to our cause Check out our books!