Friday, January 6, 2023
The Jefferson Hotel was the largest and probably most well-known hotel in the Saint Louis area throughout the first half of the 20th Century. It was hurriedly constructed in the early 1900's to assist in accomodating some of the 19.7 million guests who would attend the World's Fair. Construction broke ground in March of 1903 and work at the site would see sixteen hour days in order to meet the impending deadline. Prior to officially opening for business, this hotel was chosen as the location to inaugurate the social season of the World's Fair. A formal ball was held on April 8, 1904 and was sponsored by the Daughters of the Confederacy and the Confederate Memorial Society. The ball was said to be the "most strikingly brilliant social affair ever held" in the area and guests were reported to include "representatives of every civilized country, high World's Fair officials, soldiers, consuls and multimillionaires". The hotel was able to meet the construction deadline, opening on April 29th 1904, the day before the Fair was to begin.
Among those registered at the hotel on the eve of the World's Fair included the official delegation of the U.S. Senate and House. President Theodore Roosevelt personally telegraphed the signal to commence the opening from the white house. The hotel would host several Democratic National Conventions throughout the years among other countless conventions and other events.
Despite ownership changes over the years, the hotel thrived up until some time in the 60s. In the mid 1970's, the hotel closed and was threatened with demolition. It was fortunately saved from that fate and remodeled into small apartments for "over-50" residents. It eventually moved from senior living to low income residents after which point it closed sometime around 2007.
The one time "Aristocrat of Saint Louis", "as handsome as the Waldorf-Astoria, or the handsomest hotel in America" has now been sitting vacant for the past 15 years and as a result has been in a state of rapid deterioration ever since.
Just within the past couple months, renovations have finally begun and they've even partially sealed it back up (hence finally using the hotel's real name). I'm not sure what their plans are for the ballroom but I'd be surprised if they bother trying to replicate the crumbling plaster and other features vs a complete remodel of the space, but I guess it's not impossible. After all, the Wright Arcadeseems to have been meticulously restored following its own long period of neglect.
Click here for the video.
Check out my post here from over ten years ago (!) when I referred to it as the "Ballroom Hotel" to avoid publicly identifying it.
Source: National Records of Historic Buildings Nomination form
All historic photos courtesy of the Missouri Historical Society (except for the KSHE stage photo for which I can no longer seem to locate the source. No idea who that is onstage either.).
Begin Historic Photos
End Historic Photos
