Grand Central Hotel
Historical Plaza Walking Tour Stop 9
Arthur Larkin was one of Ellsworth's first businessmen. The Larkin House was his first establishment, but it burned in 1869 destroying the entire block. Mr. Larkin then determined to build the finest structure possible on the corner of North Main and Lincoln Ave. The Grand Central Hotel was built and furnished at a cost of $27,000. The hotel boasted the finest sidewalk in Kansas, made of a slab of magnesia limestone 12 feet wide. Following the shooting of Sheriff Whitney, Texas gambler, Ben Thompson, "held off" the Ellsworth police force and its citizens from the front of the hotel as his brother, Billy, rode out of town. The Ellsworth Reporter newspaper office was the next building to the east.
Marker is at the intersection of North Main Street and Lincoln Avenue, on the right when traveling east on North Main Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
