Lincoln Hotel

The brainchild of banker Albert E. Metzger and architects Preston Rubush and Edgar Hunter, the Lincoln Hotel had been on the drawing board for more than a decade as the trio waited patiently for the right opportunity to build a hotel specially designed to cater to the growing number of business travelers passing through the “Crossroads of America”.

In the early 1900s, Metzger and Rubush and Hunter signed a renewable 99-year lease on the property at the prominent intersection of Kentucky Avenue and Washington Street from the estate of Magadelena Maus, the widow of brewer Casper Maus. After acquiring adjacent land fronting Kentucky Avenue, the partners decided in 1917 to redevelop the site into a new hotel. The 8-story building would be called the Lincoln, in honor of the president who stood across the street in February 1861 and delivered a famous speech from the balcony of the Bates House.

The Lincoln Hotel opened on June 29, 1918. In conjunction with the grand opening, the owners announced that the size of the hotel would be doubled to 16 stories after the war ended and structural steel once again became available. Although the plans were eventually scaled back to 14 floors, the Lincoln still holds its place in history as the tallest flatiron building ever built in Indianapolis. Construction was completed over three years, and on New Year’s Eve 1921, the 14th-floor Travertine Room opened its doors to revelers.

The Lincoln primarily catered to business travelers, with generous-sized Sample Rooms where salesmen could sleep at night on a Murphy bed and then show their wares by day. However, it was also a popular site for conventions, and during WWII, was packed with soldiers from nearby Camp Atterbury and their families.

The Lincoln was purchased by the Sheraton Hotel chain in 1955 and renamed the Sheraton-Lincoln. It was sold again in 1968 to Gotham Hotels, which rechristened the aging building Lincoln Motor Inn and launched an ambitious overhaul. Two years later with renovation only 25 percent complete, Gotham decided to shut down the Lincoln. The building’s few remaining tenants, including the State Democrat Party, were given three days to vacate.

In 1972, the city of Indianapolis bought the vacant hotel for $782,985 with plans to demolish it and lease the land to developers seeking to build a 500-room Hyatt Regency (see Merchants Plaza) that would serve visitors to the new Indiana Convention and Exposition Center.

On February 24, 1973, Mayor Richard G. Lugar sat behind the controls of a 45-ton crane to launch the demolition of the once-grand hotel. It took six tries, but the mayor was finally successful in knocking out a window with a one-ton steel ball while a live band played music and children were offered balloons and treats. An auction of leaded glass windows, crystal chandeliers, and other fixtures from the hotel was held later that day. After the once-grand hotel had been stripped of salvageable parts, the Lincoln was imploded with 300 sticks of dynamite in the early morning hours of Sunday, April 9, 1973. In the short span of 10 seconds, the 55-year-old building was reduced to a pile of rubble.