Ellsworth Milton Statler
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
hotel businessman born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania
Somerset County, Pennsylvania
Somerset County is a county located in the state of Pennsylvania. As of 2010, the population was 77,742. Somerset County was created on April 17, 1795, from part of Bedford County and named for Somerset, United Kingdom. Its county seat is Somerset. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania,...
.
Biography
He built his first permanent Statler HotelStatler Hotel
The Statler Hotel company was one of the United States' early chains of hotels catering to traveling businessmen and tourists. It was founded by Ellsworth Milton Statler in Buffalo, New York.- Early ventures :...
in 1907, in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
(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
Hotel Pennsylvania
The Hotel Pennsylvania is a hotel located at 401 7th Avenue in Manhattan, across the street from Pennsylvania Station and Madison Square Garden in New York City.- History :...
, built by the Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
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, Connecticut (1954) and construction was underway on the Dallas house
Dallas Statler Hilton
The former Dallas Statler Hilton is an iconic building of mid-twentieth century design located at 1914 Commerce Street in downtown Dallas, Texas . It is located on the edge of the Farmers Market District and adjacent to Main Street Garden Park. The hotel was praised as the first modern American...
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
Cornell University School of Hotel Administration
The School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University is a specialized business school for hospitality management founded in 1922 as the first four-year intercollegiate school devoted to the field...
in Ithaca, New York. The Statler Foundation, located in Buffalo, New York, continues to contribute to many worthwhile hospitality-related causes.
In 1984, E. M. (as he preferred to be called) was inducted into the Wheeling
Wheeling, West Virginia
Wheeling is a city in Ohio and Marshall counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia; it is the county seat of Ohio County. Wheeling is the principal city of the Wheeling Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
Hall of Fame.http://wheeling.weirton.lib.wv.us/history/people/hallfame/1984stat.htm He was also inducted into the Hospitality Industry Hall of Honor in 1997 along with Curt Carlson
Curt Carlson
Curtis "Curt" Carlson was a Swedish-American businessman and founder of Carlson.-Background:Curtis Leroy Carlson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Charles and Leatha Carlson, both Swedish-American immigrants...
, Charles Forte, Baron Forte
Charles Forte, Baron Forte
Charles Forte, Baron Forte was a British caterer and hotelier. His obituary in The Guardian obituary stated that: He created a worldwide empire of restaurants and hotels from virtually nothing-Early life:...
, and Ray Kroc
Ray Kroc
Raymond Albert "Ray" Kroc was an American fast food businessman who joined McDonald's in 1954 and built it into the most successful fast food operation in the world. Kroc was included in Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century, and amassed a fortune during his lifetime...
.
Personal Life
Ellsworth Milton Statler was the third of the children of Rev. William J. Statler and Mary A. McKinney. Govinda R., Charles O., Ellsworth M., Elizabeth, Alabama A., Lillian, Osceola A., and William J.E.M. married first Mary Idesta Manderbach (1866-28 October 1925) and together they raised four adopted children. Milton Howland Statler (16 September 1906-7 December 1933), Marian Francis Statler (3 July 1907-7 August 1927), Ellsworth Morgan Statler (d.1987), and Elva Idesta Statler (7 June 1912- 27 February 1935.) E.M. had only one grandchild, Milton's daughter Joan M. Statler (1931-2005).
E.M. married Alice M. Seidler (d.1969) on 30 April 1927.
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 a half!”