Origins

Originally built in 1899 by Philadelphia transplant Wilke Power, the hotel was known as the Power Hotel. The three-story limestone building featured 28 elegant rooms and was illuminated by the latest technology of the time: acetylene gas.
 

Located along the Union Pacific Railroad between Kansas City and Denver, the hotel quickly became a popular destination for travelers and businessmen. Salesmen frequently stopped here to display their products, leading the basement to become known as the “Sample Room,” a name that remains today.

In November 1902, a fire gutted the hotel. It was rebuilt with modern heating and reopened as the Midland Railroad Hotel, reclaiming its reputation as one of the region’s finest hotels. Its prominence continued through the 1920s.
 

Restoration

The hotel struggled during the Great Depression, resorting to raising chickens on the third floor to provide food for dinner guests. Despite the challenges, it continued operating for decades and later gained a place in pop-culture history when it appeared in the 1973 film Paper Moon starring Ryan O’Neal and Tatum O’Neal.
 

By the 1970s, the Midland was one of 11 historic Kansas hotels required to meet updated life-safety codes or close. Owner Agnes Hill, who had operated the hotel since her husband's death in 1973, worked to bring the building into compliance. Health concerns eventually forced her to retire and sell the hotel in the late 1970s.

After several changes in ownership, the hotel ultimately closed in 1988 and remained vacant for nearly a decade.
 

In 1997, the Wilson Foundation purchased the building for $35,000 and began an ambitious six-year, $3.2 million renovation. The painstaking restoration earned the organization a Kansas Preservation Award.

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Today

The Midland Railroad Hotel reopened in 2003, restored to reflect the grandeur of its 1920s era with a host of modern amenities.
 

Today, the historic hotel stands as a preserved landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its restoration brought new life to a building that had survived fire, economic hardship, changing ownership, decades of vacancy and the threat of demolition—preserving the Midland as an important piece of Kansas history.