Ellsworth Statler

Ellsworth Milton (E.M.) Statler (October 26, 1863 – April 16, 1928) was an American hotel businessman born in Somerset County, 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 Railroad 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 built several other hotels after Statler's death in 1928. These were located in Washington, D. C. (1943), Los Angeles (1952), Hartford, Connecticut (1954) and construction was underway on the Dallas house in 1954 when Conrad Hilton bought the Hotels Statler Company for $111 million – the largest real estate transaction in history at the time. 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, New York. The Statler Foundation, located in Buffalo, New York, continues to contribute to many worthwhile hospitality-related causes.

On March 20, 1951, the radio show, Cavalcade of America sponsored by DuPont, featured the life story of Ellsworth Statler in a light 30 minute drama.

In 1984, E. M. (as he preferred to be called) was inducted into the Wheeling, West Virginia Hall of Fame.[1] He was also inducted into the Hospitality Industry Hall of Honor in 1997 along with Curt Carlson, Charles Forte, Baron Forte, and Ray Kroc.

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