Ellsworth Milton Statler

Ellsworth Milton (E.M.) Statler (October 26, 1863 - April 16 1928) was an American hotel businessman born near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

He built his first permanent Statler Hotel in 1907, in Buffalo, New York (it being the first major hotel to have a private bath or shower and running water in every room). Future hotels constructed by E. M. Statler were located in Cleveland (1912), Detroit (1915), St. Louis (1917), New York (the Hotel Pennsylvania, built by the Pennsylvania Rail Road and leased to Statler and Franklin J. Matchette in 1919; later bought by the Hotels Statler Company in 1948), a new hotel in Buffalo (1923; the previous Hotel Statler in Buffalo was renamed the Hotel Buffalo and sold later in the 1920s), and his last hotel, built in Boston (1927).

The Hotels Statler Company went on to build several other hotels after Statler's death in 1928. These were located in Washington, D. C. (1943), Los Angeles (1952), Hartford, Conn. (1954) and construction was underway on the Dallas house in 1954 when Conrad Hilton bought the Hotels Statler Company for the sum of $111 million – at that time the largest real estate transaction in history. The Dallas hotel was opened as the Statler Hilton in 1956.

Upon his death, the Statler Foundation was established in his will, becoming benefactors of what is now the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration in Ithaca, NY. The Statler Foundation, located in Buffalo, NY, continues to contribute to many worthwhile hospitality-related causes.

In 1984, E. M. (as he preferred to be called) was inducted into the Wheeling, Ohio Hall of Fame. He was also inducted into the Hospitality Industry Hall of Honor in 1997 along with Curtis Carlson, Lord Charles Forte, and Ray Kroc.

Quotations

"Life is service. The one who progresses is the one who gives his fellow human beings a little more, a little better service."

"The Guest is Always Right."

“A room and a bath for a dollar and ahalf!”

References

* Jarman, Rufus (1952) "A Bed for the Night"
* Miller, Floyd (1969) "Statler"

External links

* [http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/about/history.html History of the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration]
* [http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig3/wall8.html A Tale of a (Hotel) Library Catalog]
* [http://www.hrm.uh.edu/?PageID=190 Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management Hall of Honor]
* [http://www.forgottendetroit.com/statler/emstatler.html E.M. Statler: The Father of the American Hotel]