This marker is located on the southeast corner of the building facing Massachusetts Street.
Text of marker:
This marks the site of the Free State Hotel erected in 1855 by the New England Emigrant Aid Society. Destroyed by Sheriff Jones and his posse May 21, 1856, and rebuilt by Col. Schaler W. Eldridge. Quantrill and his raiders destroyed Lawrence August 21, 1863, burned the hotel and massacred the citizens. Col. Eldridge restored the hotel which stood until 1926 when it was rebuilt by W.G. Hutson.
Erected April 4, 1940 by The Lawrence Rotary Club.
From the National Register application:
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visit link)
"The Eldridge House Hotel (ca. 1925-1928) is located on the southwest corner of Massachusetts and Seventh Streets in Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas (pop. 54,307). The five-story, flat roofed, concrete and red brick eclectic Second Renaissance Revival structure stands at the north end of Massachusetts Street, being one of the tallest buildings in Lawrence's commercial area. The ell-shaped building was constructed in two phases. The first unit, constructed in 1925-1926, is a rectangle with a five-bay, eastern facade elevation which measures forty-five feet south from the Massachusetts and Seventh Streets intersection along Massachusetts. The eleven-bay, northern elevation of the 1925-1926 unit measures one hundred and seventeen feet west from the Massachusetts and Seventh Streets intersection along Seventh. The second construction phase occurred in 1926-1928, extending the hotel south from the eastern facade elevation by fifty-five feet and making the unit forty-seven feet deep from east to west. A one-story brick and stucco rectangle sits inside the ell. This unit measures approximately fifty feet from north to south and seventy feet from east to west. It appears that this unit dates from the 1866 Eldridge House Hotel, the bulk of which was demolished to allow for the 1925-1928 construction.
The concrete, metal lath, and hollow clay brick structure is masked by a red brick veneer on all of its elevations and a rusticated limestone, raised foundation veneer on its east and north elevations. The south and west elevations of the building are nondescript, having no identifiable decorative treatments.
Brick quoins define the building's corners and major terminations on the east and north elevations, identifying the split in the building's construction and flanking the eastern and two western most bays of the north elevation. Limestone beltcourses decorated with rosettes run between the first and second stories and between the fifth story and the parapet wall. A limestone double beltcourse runs below and intersects each of the second story windows on the east and north elevations. The parapet's brick false balustrades stand above each of the center windows and the corner windows of the two units which comprise the building's east facade and over each of the eleven window bays on the north elevation. Limestone sills run beneath each balustrade and a recessed limestone panel stands beneath each sill. The parapet is capped with a limestone course. Limestone rosette medallions decorate the parapet above each quoin.
The building's upper four story fenestration employs two sizes of rectangular windows, the window units themselves are not original. The upper story fenestration of the east facade of the 1925-1926 unit is comprised of five bays; pairs of the larger windows fenestrate the two corner bays and the center bay. Smaller windows fenestrate the second and fourth bays. The upper story fenestration on the east facade of the 1926-1928 unit is slightly different, with single larger windows lining the two corner bays and the third and fifth bays of the seven bay unit. Pairs of the larger windows form the fenestration in the center bays and single, smaller windows form the fenestration in the second and sixth bays. The fenestration on the north elevation is comprised of the larger rectangular windows, with a pair of these windows lining the most eastern bay, leaving the remaining ten bays to be filled with single windows. These windows have stretcher brick lintels and limestone sills. The larger windows on the second and fifth stories exhibit cast iron baluster grilles below them. The fenestration on the south and west elevations is comprised of the larger rectangular windows but there does not appear to be any decorative lintel or sill treatment for these windows.
The fenestration and door openings on the rusticated limestone veneered raised foundation of the east and north elevations are symmetrically aligned with the window bays above them. Arched door surrounds with angled voussoirs mark the corners of the two units which comprise the east facade. A large rectangular window stands between each pair, measuring three bays across on the 1925-1926 unit and five bays, across on the 1926-1928 unit. The north elevation incorporates the downward grade of Seventh Street, gradually increasing the foundation's height by a half story at its most western point. The doors and windows on the north elevation are arched with angled voussoirs and fanlights. The elevation's major doorway stands in the fifth bay west from the eastern corner. Windows and additional doors stand beneath the arched windows on the western portion of the heightened foundation.
The building's most significant interior architectural features exist in the public spaces on the first and basement floors. Neo-Classical features predominate on the first floor, with capitaled pilaster, columns, and posts; beaded ceiling beams; decorative plaster cast coiffered ceilings; and moulded woodwork. Wall and capital cartouches displaying the Eldridge House Hotel emblem and emblems for the "Big Six" football universities, of which the University of Kansas was one, add an eclectic flavor to the Neo-Classical first floor interior. The basement exhibits Neo-Classical features as well but the approach tends toward the rustic eclectic rather than the high style."