Added to State Register
Special to the Gazette
Thursday, January 22, 2009
At its recent quarterly meeting at the Kansas Historical Society in Topeka, the Historic Sites Board of Review voted to add Emporia’s Hotel Broadview to the Register of Historic Kansas Places.
The building, a seven-story Commercial-style building at 110 W. Sixth Ave., was built in 1923 after a fire devastated the city’s oldest and largest hotel in 1921. Eager to replace the old Hotel Whitley, community leaders quickly formed the Emporia Hotel Corporation, which sold shares of stock to Emporia citizens. The corporation contracted with Wichita developer George Siedhoff to construct the Broadview.
Through the 1920s, the hotel, which included an elegant restaurant, hosted many conventions, including the statewide Ku Klux Klan convention in 1924, which drew the ire of many influential locals, including William Allen White.
The building served as a hotel until 1964, when it was remodeled into a men’s dormitory for the College of Emporia. It was again remodeled for senior housing in 1974. Current plans call for rehabilitating the property for continued use as senior housing.
The building was nominated for its association with Emporia commercial history.
Also added to the state register were the E.H.S. Bailey House at 1101 Ohio St. in Lawrence and the Dorrance State Bank at 512 Main St. in Dorrance.
The board also nominated eight sites in Kansas for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.