Located on the southwest corner of 14th & Farnam Street, across from the newly rising Mutual of Omaha headquarters tower, is an Art Deco structure that was once one of the city’s grandest hotels: The Paxton.
It was named after William A. Paxton, who helped raise the money to complete the original Paxton Hotel when it was constructed in 1882. During his distinguished career, Paxton helped found the Omaha and Northwestern Railroad, Paxton & Gallagher wholesale grocery, Paxton & Vierling Iron Works and the South Omaha Stockyards.
Before it was razed in 1927, the original Paxton Hotel hosted notable guests, including Presidents William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson as well as “Buffalo” Bill Cody and William Jennings Bryan, among others. It was also the site of the founding of the Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society.
Like the original, the new Paxton Hotel was built by the Kitchen Brothers Hotel Company and operated by Ralph and Dick Kitchen. The 11-story hotel was designed by architect Joseph G. McArthur in the Art Deco style. McArthur’s other projects included the Medical Arts Building at 17th & Dodge Street and the Redick Tower (present-day Hotel Deco) at 15th & Harney Street. Constructed by Selden-Breck, The Paxton was built with brick and concrete and featured a facade of terra cotta and Bedford stone.
Located at 1403 Farnam Street, the 325-room hotel opened in 1929, at which point an editorial in the Omaha World-Herald declared it “the finest hotel of its size in the country, New York not excepted.”…