Kansas
Liberty Hall
Friday, April 21, 1882
The Decorative Arts
Newspaper report
The Daily Journal, (Lawrence, KS), April 22, 1882, 4
Newspaper advertisement
Lawrence Daily Journal, April 18, 1882, 1
Liberty Hall
Corner of 7th Street and Massachusetts Street, Lawrence, KS (now 644 Massachusetts Street)
Built: 1856
Opened: 1856
Dedicated: 1870 by Reverend Bently, a Baptist minister, who suggested the name because Abraham Lincoln had once called Lawrence the "cradle of liberty"
Remodeled: 1882 as Bowersock Opera House (J.D. Bowersock)
Destroyed (fire): February 18, 1911
Replaced: January 20, 1912 by a new Liberty Hall (extant)
Unverified information suggests Wilde's accommodation was the Eldridge House, which is likely given the low number and quality of hotels in Lawrence in 1882. The hotel is shown below with this caveat until primary source evidence is discovered.
Eldridge House
Built: 1865
Oscar Wilde In America | © John Cooper, 2023
