At the same hour on August 21 that Quantrill’s Raiders burned the Eldridge Hotel 150 years to the day, almost 90 members of Lawrence Central Rotary Club and their guests packed the Crystal Ballroom of the risen-from-the-ashes Eldridge to hear Lawrence historian Katie Armitage read first hand accounts from hotel guests who survived.
The day in 1863 the day started with raiders surrounding the hotel. Out of town guests staying at the hotel negotiated amnesty from Quantrill after hanging a bedsheet from a window as a flag of surrender. Only then, guests were evacuated from the hotel which was then destroyed. Many recorded their experiences in journals or in letters home which have been preserved and are at the Watkins Museum new permanent exhibit that highlights Quantrill’s Raid survival stories both small and large.
Present day events started on a lighter note with a buffet that Eldridge Sous Chef Nick Haxton using recipes taken from pioneer cook books of the day. Eldridge General Manager and Lawrence Rotarian Nancy Longhurst also gave a welcome to everyone in attendance and the lecture closed with a question and answer session with Armitage, an expert on the Raid and its aftermath.
