December 14, 1876

The Metropolitan Hotel, the only upscale hotel in Little Rock (Pulaski County), burned, paving the way for the opening of the Capital Hotel in January 1877. The manager of the Metropolitan, Colonel A. G. DeShon, along with Major John Adams, was instrumental in leasing the Denckla Block as a home for the new hotel, persuading its agents at the time of the need for a grand hotel in the capital city. The Capital Hotel, with a grand interior created to match its grand exterior, hosted many political and historic personages, including President Ulysses S. Grant. In fact, legend says that the Capital’s unusually large elevator was built to allow Grant to take his horse to his hotel room.

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