Hamblin Hotel
202-208 South Main
Burning of the Hamblin Hotel, 1896
["Western Home Journal," Lawrence, KS 22 Sep 1870, p3c3]
The large banking house of Shepherd & McQuesten, at Ottawa, will be completed soon. It is one of the handsomest buildings in Franklin county, is three stories high, and presents a handsome appearance. The cost of this building will be about $10,000, and is a credit to the firm above mentioned. We are pleased to note the success of Messrs. Shepherd & McQuesten, for we have never met more pleasant gentlemen than these two bankers.
H. H. Ludington and B. McQuesten have recently purchased the brick block on Main street, where the county officers are located. For this building they paid about 48,000.
As before mentioned, Mr. Ludington has sold the fixtures, furniture and good will of the Ludington House to some gentlemen from the East. The price he receives is $16,000. He retains the lease to the building, which has yet two and a half years to run. This is worth $4,000 more.