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After first opening its doors in 1871, Palmer House, a Hilton Hotel is celebrating its 150th anniversary today with an open house event, inviting guests to explore the hotel’s collection of prized artifacts and learn about its deep-rooted history in Chicago. Fittingly, the date also marks National Brownie Day, and guests of the event will be able to enjoy the chocolate fudge confectioner treat – invented at the hotel in 1893. The lobby is open to the public starting at 11:00am with special remarks from Hilton AVP Operations, Tom Loughlin, and Area General Manager Dean Lane. Additional speakers commemorating the sesquicentennial celebration include Larry Horowitz of Historic Hotels of America, serving as the Master of Ceremonies.
“Through the years, Palmer House, a Hilton Hotel has been a pinnacle of resilience, ingenuity, haven of inclusivity, and institutional part of the growth of Chicago. As a hotel built on love, Palmer House remains engrained into the city of Chicago, serving as a beacon of light following a challenging year,” said Hilton Area General Manager, Dean Lane. “With the demise of the original building due to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, undeterred Potter Palmer secured the largest hotel real estate loan of its day and rebuilt the second Palmer House, the first fire-proof hotel in the world. Proving its staying power through the decades, Palmer House has become a hotel of many firsts, famously the first hotel to install the original telephone system, sometimes accommodating 2,700 calls per hour. Palmer House is the first fireproof hotel, birthplace of the original chocolate fudge brownie, the first to employ the vertical steam lift, which would later become the elevator, the first hotel to use the lightbulb, and home to the first-ever Polaroids from the 1893 World’s Fair. We take pride in preserving our hotel’s history and are honored to share its treasures with our beloved city and guests in honor of the hotel’s 150th year anniversary.”
In the past 174 days, Palmer House has unveiled a brand-new indoor swimming pool following a $2.2 Million renovation and introduced Lockwood Express, a grab and go concept that includes daily baked pastries, Lavazza coffee, selection of warm artesian meals, and even small batch cocktails for travelers on-the-go. For the anniversary celebration, the hotel has introduced the Bertha Brownie Latte, a playful spin on the original fudge brownie.
HOW IT STARTED
The story of Chicago’s Palmer House began as an extravagant wedding gift from Potter Palmer to his new wife, Bertha Honoré Palmer. Only 13 days after its grand opening, The Palmer House sadly fell victim to the Great Chicago Fire, but was rebuilt on November 8, 1873, marking the opening of what would become one of the nation’s most iconic and famed hotels.
By the turn of the century, Palmer House had become Chicago’s liveliest social center, hosting a long list of prominent figures— ranging from U.S. presidents to Charles Dickens to Oscar Wilde. In 1933, the Empire Dining Room hosted legendary entertainers, including Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Belafonte, Louis Armstrong, and Liberace.
Adding to the hotel’s many claims to fame is the creation of the chocolate fudge brownie. This luscious confection was created in the Palmer House pastry kitchen as a portable dessert to be served at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. Bertha Palmer requested the pastry chef at the time to create something different and easily portable, thus the brownie was born. Over a century later, the same recipe is used to create the decadent and highly sought-after brownies which are still served at The Palmer House today.
HOW IT’S GOING — CELEBRATING 150 YEARS
As the hotel’s 1930 vinyl record collection plays, visitors to the open house sesquicentennial celebration are invited to embark on a visual journey through the decades, while enjoying champagne and hors d’oeuvres featuring popular vintage menu items, and of course, brownie bites. Live event illustrator Rosemary Fanti will be working on a real-time oil painting of the celebration to be featured on an 18×24 canvas, commemorating the event for years to come.
Artifacts will be exhibited throughout the hotel including the first-ever Polaroids from the 1893 World’s Fair; Mark Twain’s beer stein; Bertha Palmer’s scrapbook, recounting the events leading up to the 19th amendment; original employee records from 1947; the register line-up of artists from the Empire Room with the original payments from their performances, including Liberace’s recorded payment of $900 plus one room accommodation; an original spittoon from The World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 valued at over $250,000.00 and more.
The gallery of never seen before relics will be extended throughout the Mezzanine leading into the Museum of History & Archive with interactive components utilizing CatalogIt, an application for documenting storytelling enriched by relationships to other items, people and places based on shared physical characteristics and history. The displays will be arranged by theme including Culinary — reveling menu from 1879; Entertainment — various entertainers who once commanded the Empire Room’s stage; Advertorial – – throughout the years, from Trader Vic’s to Murder Mystery themed dinners. Bertha Palmer — displaying her personal collection of couture items; and more. A historic archival animated art-installation will be displayed on the hotel’s lobby marble columns and Empire Room façade via digital mapping, for a captivating, 360-degree immersed experience.
The anniversary activations will incorporate a Sesquicentennial Magic Parlour Package, including overnight accommodations, 1871 cocktail for two at Lockwood Lobby Bar, and two tickets to a Magic Parlour performance.
Accommodation rates at Palmer House start at $189 per night. For reservations or more information on the hotel’s 150th anniversary celebration, please visit https://www.palmerhousehiltonhotel.com/ or call (312) 726-7500.
Media Contact:
The Brandman Agency
palmerhouse@brandmanagency.com
