The Westgate Hotel, on a wedge-shaped piece of ground between Main and Delaware at 9th, was erected in 1916 at a cost of $400,000. The site formerly was occupied by W. A. M. Vaughan's Diamond Building. The hotel owners, Elmer Williams and his brother, built the moderately priced hostelry for the cattleman, small-town merchant and traveling man, whose income was limited. The rate ranged from $1.50 to $2.00 a day. The hotel, built of reinforced concrete and terra cotta, had 200 rooms, each of which had a private bath. Arthur Studebaker, Salina, Kan., recalls living at the nice Westgate Hotel, in a very pleasant room fronting on Delaware, for $35 a month. He remembers that the basement housed the 'Cobweb,' with ale vaults similar to those of London pubs. A dime got one a good stein. I've looked in a lot of places since, but nothing tasted so good. The elevated railway shows plainly at the right side of the post card. As the cars rumbled overhead one could by magazines, papers, etc., at a stand under the shelter of the viaduct, under the east side where the roof was low.A few doors north on Main was a second-hand bookstore, where one could go in and just browse. Possibly one found 'Graustark' or other McCutcheon books, the sugar coated 'Henty's' and good sports stories by Ralph Henry Barbour. The usual cost, 10 cents. The neighborhood was a wonderful place for both food and drink. The Frank Valerius Cafe, Savoy Grill, and Morledge's, a fish and oyster house that compared with any in New Orleans. Their Oysters Rockefeller and Red Snapper were culinary delights, Studebaker says. The Westgate, which had its own coffee shop, inserted the following advertisement in a September, 1916, Orpheum Theater program: Meet your friends at the Westgate Hotel Coffee Shop, a nifty place to eat. Businessmens' luncheon at the Junction, where satisfaction is certain. The Westgate Hotel later became the Kay Hotel. It was razed in September, 1954, to accommodate modern traffic needs and for the Gateway Plaza, where today the statue of the Muse of Missouri rises among the fountains, flags and landscaping, with the modern TenMain Center and Commerce Tower nearby. Kansas City Times, June 2, 1971.
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