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Peoria's Pere Marquette
Valerie Marinicic Throughout the years, Peoria's privately owned businesses have added color and life to the downtown area. The Hotel Pere Marquette is one of those businesses. The Hotel Pere Marquette has dazzled thousands with its style and hospitality. Even through difficult financial times, it has continued to be a successful business. The Hotel Pere Marquette has overcome debt and bankruptcy and used its unique style to become a popular and cultural spot for more than seventy years. A vacant lot was the fuel for Emmett May's dream of creating a one-of-a-kind, five-star hotel. May purchased this land and began making plans for his hotel. In order to make his dream a reality, he joined with Horace Leland Wiggans, who was a hotel operator from Springfield, Illinois. Finally, in October 1925, they formed the Pere Marquette Building Co. for their hotel, the Pere Marquette. The lot was cleared and construction began in February 1926 with the firm of Hewwitt and Emerson in charge of design. Val Jobst and Son were hired as the general contractors. Hired by the Pere Marquette Building Co., H. Edgar Gregory was the first general manager. Gregory set about hiring 250 workers. Upon the hotel's opening on January 5, 1927, Gregory welcomed sixteen thousand inspecting visitors. Since the first day that the Pere Marquette opened, it was an instant success. The hotel boasted four hundred rooms and fourteen luxurious suites. Beautiful and expensive furnishings filled the new hotel. The most expensive room was the Lounge Room, which included furnishings valued at more than $25,000. Visitors to the hotel were most taken by its new and stunning ballroom. The main feature of this room was the enormous oil painting of LaSalle sailing to America from France on his second voyage. From the moment the public set its eyes on the hotel, it was popular. For the first fifty-five years, success was what the Hotel Pere Marquette was all about. However, this glory did not last. In the early 1970s, the Hotel Pere Marquette planned to become part of the Hilton chain as the Peoria Hilton. The hotel spent $2 million to update the look and to turn a new leaf in preparation of new management. Business was unstable throughout the late 1970s and before the hotel knew it, it owed more than $4 million to creditors. In December 1979 the Peoria Hilton was ordered into bankruptcy court for its debts. The hotel filed a reorganization petition in hopes of being able to put off payment until a successful plan was created and approved by the judge. Unfortunately, the judge denied their plea. The Peoria Hilton was ordered into bankruptcy on June 25, 1980, and the Peoria Hilton closed its doors. After the Peoria Hilton closed, strategies to reopen the hotel were discussed with the hotel's new manager, Daniel R. O'Mally, who was hired in September 1982. Plans to refurbish the hotel were discussed and later finalized. The estimated cost for the work was about $10 million. In 1981 construction began on all the guest rooms, restaurants, lounges, kitchens, halls, the lobby, and the ballroom. A parking ramp was also added to the Pere Marquette parking garage. The refurbishing project ended up costing nearly $20 million, almost $10 million more than the hotel management had anticipated. Finally, the Pere Marquette reopened in late 1983. After one year as the new Pere Marquette, management was pleased to know that they exceeded their financial goals by more than $200,000. By 1985 the property income for the hotel was 28 percent higher than in 1984. As of today, the Hotel Pere Marquette is running smoothly and confidently, fearing no harsh financial problems in the near future. People everywhere believe the Pere Marquette to be part of Peoria's beauty and history. Even as more hotel chains form and come to town, it is this one-of-a-kind hotel that keeps the pride in Peoria.— [From Bill Adams, "Hotel Was Built as a Labor of Love," The Peoria Journal Star, Aug. 5, 1991; G. B. Appleson, "Hilton Bankruptcy Ordered: Debtors Lose Control," The Peoria Journal Star, June 26, 1980; Deborah Goeken, "O'Mally Resigns as Pere Marquette GM." The Peoria Journal Star, Sept. 10, 1985; Jim Mansfield, "2 Million Remodeling For Pere Marquette," The Peoria Journal Star, Nov. 14, 1971; "The New Pere Marquette Looks Like a (19.2) Million," Today in Central Illinois, Nov. 23, 1983; "Peoria Hilton in Court for Time Rebuilding Plans," The Peoria Journal Star, Dec. 7, 1979; Marg Steenrod, "Main and Madison," The Penny Press, Aug. 10, 1972.]
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