The Chase Park Plaza Royal Sonesta St. Louis is a historic hotel and apartment complex located at 212 N. Kingshighway Boulevard in the

Central West End The Central West End is a neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri, stretching from Midtown's western edge to Union Boulevard and bordering on Forest Park with its outstanding array of free cultural institutions. It includes the Cathedral Basilica of ...

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. It consists of two buildings - the Chase Hotel, built in 1922 by developer Chase Ullman, and the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

-style Park Plaza tower, built in 1929 and today housing condominiums. The complex also features a cinema and several restaurants and bars.

History

The Chase replaced the nearby

Buckingham Hotel Buckingham Hotel, later the Ambassador Hotel, was an upmarket hotel which existed in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, in the early 20th century. It was located on the northeast corner of North Kingshighway and West Pine boulevards. Built in 19 ...

as the most luxurious hotel in the city. The ground-floor Chase Club was a popular venue for nationally known entertainers from its opening in 1933 until it was closed in 1972. In 1929, seven years after the Chase's opening, the rival Park Plaza was built next door. The Park Plaza's original owner, Sam Koplar, lost the Park Plaza to foreclosure during the Great Depression, but regained ownership in 1944; he became the Chase's majority owner in 1946. The two hotels merged into the Chase-Park Plaza in 1961. The Park Plaza later was converted to apartments and now is a condominium complex. From 1989 to 1999, the Chase wing was closed. After the hotel reopened, the hyphen was dropped from the name and the property is now known as the Chase Park Plaza. The hotel joined the Sonesta hotels chain on May 18, 2017. The Chase Park Plaza is part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's

Historic Hotels of America Historic Hotels of America is a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation that was founded in 1989 with 32 charter members; the program accepts nominations and identifies hotels that have maintained their authenticity, sense of pla ...

program.

Jackie Robinson and desegregation

Jackie Robinson was a

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) second baseman who became the first

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

to play in the major leagues in the modern era. Robinson broke the

baseball color line The color line, also known as the color barrier, in American baseball excluded players of black African descent from Major League Baseball and its affiliated Minor Leagues until 1947 (with a few notable exceptions in the 19th century before the l ...

when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base on April 15, 1947. In 1953, Robinson openly criticized segregated hotels and restaurants that served the Dodger organization. A number of these establishments integrated as a result, including the Chase Hotel.

''Wrestling at the Chase''

The Chase was also famous for hosting a wrestling program called ''Wrestling at the Chase'' (1959–1983), produced and televised by

KPLR-TV KPLR-TV (channel 11) is a television station in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, airing programming from The CW. It is owned and operated by network majority owner Nexstar Media Group alongside Fox affiliate KTVI (channel 2). Both station ...

channel 11, whose operations were in the hotel and the adjoining Park Plaza apartments, all owned by

Harold Koplar Harold Koplar (February 27, 1915 – May 3, 1985) was a Russian-American hotelier and businessman in St. Louis, Missouri. Biography Early life and education Harold Koplar was born February 27, 1915. His father, Sam Koplar, built the Park Plaz ...

, Sam Koplar's son. Many famous wrestlers, including St. Louis native

Lou Thesz Aloysius Martin "Lou" Thesz (April 24, 1916 – April 28, 2002) was an American professional wrestler. He was a three-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion and held the title for a combined total of 10 years, three months and nine days (3,749 ...

and Buddy Rogers, wrestled on the program.

References

Gallery

Image:Chase Park Plaza.jpg, View of the Park Plaza tower wing from north on Kingshighway Boulevard

External links