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Miami Hotel Owners To Erect Addition
 
 
This article appeared in the Dayton Daily News on November 1, 1925
 
MIAMI HOTEL OWNERS TO ERECT ADDITION
CONTRACT LET FOR 140 MORE ROOMS
Daytonians, Who Built Hostelry as Civic Enterprise, Retire—Present Operating Company to Continue
 
     Plans for the immediate construction of a 140-room addition to the Miami hotel were made known Saturday following the announcement of the sale of the controlling interest in the stock of the building company to a group of Cincinnatians through Attorney Harry L. Linch, of that city.
     The sale price is reported to have been in excess of $1,500,000.
     The addition will front on Ludlow st., and in a general way conform to the plans announced several months ago by the Dayton company, which is headed by Frederick H. Rike, as president.
     Contract for the addition, which is to cost between $350,000 and $400,000, has been awarded to H. L.Stevens & co., of Chicago, according to information given out by Mr. Linch.  That company built the addition to the Metropole hotel on Walnut st., in Cincinnati.
     The new owners of the building, the names of whom were withheld by Mr. Linch, form a part of the group that recently acquired the Savoy hotel property in Cincinnati.
     The transfer of the building from the Miami Hotel Building Co., of Dayton, will not affect the operation of the hostelry, it was emphasized.
     The hotel has been operated by the Miami Hotel Co., of Indiana, headed by A. Bennett Gates.  This concern holds a lease on the building and will continue to use it.  The Miami Hotel Co. of Indiana also operates the Hotel Severin, in Indianapolis.
     Erection of the Miami Hotel was the result of a public-spirited movement on the part of a group of local citizens who realized the need of another modern hostelry.
     Initial step in this direction was made on Jan. 28, 1913.  Mr. Rike spoke before a luncheon-meeting held at the Dayton City club under the auspices of the Chamber of Commerce.
     At this meeting, Mr. Rike outlined to the hundreds of Daytonians present, the constant strides that Dayton was making in the industrial and commercial world and the need of proper facilities to house the representatives of varied industries who came to this city.
     The logic of his proposition met instant response from Dayton business men, who deemed it nothing short of a civic duty—a patriotic responsibility, as it were—to finance and launch this idea of another hotel.
     Among the first citizens to sponsor the enterprise was the late John H. Patterson, president of the National Cash Register Co., who threw his energy behind the movement and through his moral and financial assistance, brought about the realization of these plans.
     It was due chiefly to Mr. Patterson’s efforts, Mr. Rike claims, that the hotel was erected for he was one of the principal subscribers to the bonds which were floated subsequently.
     The site on which the Miami hotel is situated originally belonged to Mr. Rike, having been purchased by him from John Stoddard as an ideal location for a hotel and unless this group of citizens sponsored the proposition as outlined by Mr. Rike, he was determined to build a hostelry there himself.
     It was the idea of the original committee that if the structure was complete, there would be no difficulty in having a hotel started.  This impression proved true later, for immediately upon the completion of the building, the operating lease was acquired by H. B. Gates, of Indianapolis, father of A. Bennett Gates, who is now president of the operating company.  The structure, however, has always remained in the possession of the building company, until it was acquired Saturday by Cincinnati capitalists.
     In addition to Mr. Patterson and Mr. Rike, other prime factors in the organization of the company were Col. E. A. Deeds, who is now vice president; William Craven, L. G. Kumler and John A. McGee, secretary-treasurer.
     While none of the original founders of the hotel have ever collected returns on their investments in the hotel, none of them lost their money, Mr. Rike claims, and the project has more that proven it s worth as a civic asset and has been worthy of the effort that was expended in its behalf.
     It is universally conceded that the hotel ranks with the best in the United States.  It has a frontage of 157 feet on Ludlow st. and 100 feet and 10 inches on Second st.   Twelve floors, including a roof garden, comprise the building, which has 400 rooms, all with bath.  Additional features are excellent dining room and ballroom facilities, aside from a modern grill and tea room.
     One of the historic features connected with the erection of the hotel is that the bonds were sold to the Tellotson and Walscott Co. of Cleveland, and their commitment to the Dayton organization was the last left standing at the outbreak of the World War.
     Despite the comparatively brief period of its existence, the Miami hotel has been the headquarters for many of the prominent Americans, among them being Charles E. Hughes, former secretary of state; William Howard Taft, Newton Baker, former secretary of war; John McCormack, William Jennings Bryan, Henry Ford, Jack Dempsey, Senator Reed, Joseph P. Tumulty and others.