103 years ago today, this postcard from the Hotel Edward was mailed to Evansville…
The Hotel Edward was built at the corner of Illinois Street and Chesapeake Street (126-130 S. Illinois) in 1907, along with the Majestic Theater behind the hotel. At the time, it was one of seven hotels facing onto this one block of Illinois Street. The entrance to the theater fronted onto Illinois through the hotel building, as seen in this 1914 Sanborn map clipping…
By 1950, the hotel’s name had changed to the Earle Hotel, and the Majestic became the Mutual Theater. Between 1956 and 1960, the theater was demolished, but the hotel remained standing for a few years longer (here is a photo of the Earle Hotel in 1960).
The site of the hotel is now the Ram Restaurant and Brewery, with a parking garage above that.
I am researching my grandfather,Regner Anton Ekstrom, who I believed lived at the Hotel Edward in 1909. He worked for Consolidated Equipment, which I believe was a company located in Indianapolis. In 1910 he moved to 312 E. St Clair. Wiould you have any records of guests or companies that used the Edward Hotel? Thank you Linda Nelson