The Hotel President, formerly the President Hotel, is a historic hotel in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

, United States. It is now operated as the Hilton President Kansas City by Jury Hotel Group of Overland Park Kansas, and is located at 1327-35 Baltimore Avenue.

History

The President Hotel was built in 1925 by

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...

businessman Frank A. Dudley and operated by the United Hotels Company. The hotel was built in a construction boom that also saw the erection of the nearby Mainstreet Theater,

Midland Theatre The Midland Theatre is a 3,000-seat theater located in the Power & Light District of Kansas City, Missouri, United States. The National Collegiate Athletic Association under Walter Byers had its headquarters in the building from the 1950s unti ...

, and

Kansas City Power and Light Building The Kansas City Power and Light Building (also called the KCP&L Building and the Power and Light Building) is a landmark skyscraper located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri. It was constructed by Kansas City Power and Light President and Ediso ...

. In 1928, it was the headquarters for the

1928 Republican National Convention The 1928 Republican National Convention was held at Convention Hall in Kansas City, Missouri, from June 12 to June 15, 1928. Because President Calvin Coolidge had announced unexpectedly he would not run for re-election in 1928, Commerce Sec ...

, which nominated

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...

for President. The hotel's Drum Room lounge attracted entertainers such as

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing". His orchestra did well commercially. From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing bi ...

and Marilyn Maye. At the beginning of 1935, a man using an assumed name at the time but later identified as Artemus Ogletree, was found severely assaulted in room 1046 after a two-day stay marked by odd behavior and interactions with a mysterious "Don"; he later died in the hospital. The case remains unsolved. The hotel closed in 1980. It later underwent a $45.5 million restoration by developer Ron Jury and reopened in 2005 as the Hilton President Kansas City. The hotel is managed by Jury Hotel Group of Overland Park, Kansas. The hotel's General Manager is Philip Strnad. Additional renovations were completed in 2017. These renovations included all guest rooms and meeting rooms. The Presidential Suite, and Reagan suites were renovated in 2019. The President Hotel is the only hotel located in the Power and Light District. The President is a franchise hotel of Hilton Hotels of Bethesda, Maryland. The Hotel President was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

References

External links

Hilton President Kansas City official website
*{{usurped,
Hilton President Kansas City at Emporis.com
} Hotels in Kansas City, Missouri Hotel buildings completed in 1925 Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Missouri United Hotels Company of America National Register of Historic Places in Kansas City, Missouri Downtown Kansas City 1925 establishments in Missouri Jacobethan architecture