📷 Throwback Thursday: Plaza Towers

Hotels - Baker - 15-19 E. 2nd - 1958 (Baker opened in 1954). Courtesy of the Conard-Harmon Collection.

Hutch Post, in partnership with Steve Harmon and the Conard-Harmon Collection, is proud to present Throwback Thursday. Enjoy a weekly release from Steve Harmon as he presents the "Hutch - Then & Now Collection."

STEVE HARMON
Hutch Post Contributor

Today's "Throwback Thursday Collection" takes us to the unit block of East 2nd on the south side.

In all of Hutchinson's long history, the two structures that have always occupied the addresses of 15, 17 and 19 E. 2nd Ave. have always been establishments for lodging.

The first, built in 1888, was the New Howard House.

Then by 1893, it became the Brunswick Hotel. The first photo shows that about 1904.

Hotels - Brunswick Hotel - 15-19 E. 2nd - c. 1904. Courtesy of the Conard-Harmon Collection.

In 1905, it became the Baldwin Hotel. The second photo shows that about 1922.

Hotels - Baldwin Hotel - 15-19 E. 2nd - 1922. Courtesy of the Conard-Harmon Collection.

In 1937, the upper floor was relabeled the Midland Hotel, with the lower floor leased out to Salt City Federal Savings & Loan and the Wade Patton Insurance Co. The third photo shows the businesses as they looked in 1939.

Hotels - Midland - 15-19 E. 2nd - 1939 (with Salt City Federal & Wade Patton Insurance. Courtesy of the Conard-Harmon Collection.

In 1946, The Bisonte Hotel closed and Hutch was limited in downtown amenities.

In January 1949, V.M. Wiley and Ray Dillon spearheaded the proposal of the Metropolitan Hotel Corp. to build a new downtown hotel and convention center. They sold stock for this venture and, in 1953, construction started. The fourth photo shows the hotel construction in 1953.

Hotels - Old Santa Fe Station - 3rd & Walnut - 1953 (Baker Hotel under construction). Courtesy of the Conard-Harmon Collection.

On Feb. 13, 1954, the Baker Hotel opened. The fifth photo shows the Baker Hotel in 1958.

It housed many famous guests. The sixth photo shows Roy Clark and Jimmy Dean having dinner in the Baker Hotel dining room in 1962. They were in town to perform at the Kansas State Fair.

Hotels - Roy Clark, Mack Sanders & Jimmy Dean at the Baker Hotel Dining Room - September 1962 - played at fair (Clark passed Nov. 15, 2018). Courtesy of the Conard-Harmon Collection.

After many ownership changes, such as the Hilton Inn, Key To America Inn and The Kansas Inn, it was shuttered in 1975.

The building was purchased in 1978 and converted to downtown apartments and renamed Plaza Towers. The seventh photo shows the 15-19 E. 2nd building today, still the Plaza Towers and owned by Mark and Phoebe Davenport out of Kansas City, Kansas.

Hotels - Plaza Towers - 17 E. 2nd - Feb. 17, 2025. Courtesy of the Conard-Harmon Collection.

To purchase a photo print, contact: [email protected].

Throwback Thursday is brought to you by:

Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce
STRATACA Kansas Underground Salt Museum

📷 Throwback Thursday: Plaza Towers - Vol. 115