After a year-long Covid closure, Chicago's Palmer House reopens
June 17, 2021
Chicago Business Journal
By Jim Dallke – Senior Editor, Chicago Business Journal
The Palmer House is officially open for business again after being closed for a year during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Chicago hotel announced Thursday that it has reopened its doors to guests. The move comes less than a week after the city and state entered Phase 5 of the Covid reopening plan, allowing businesses to operate at full capacity.
The Palmer House, which is owned by Hilton, is also celebrating its 150-year anniversary in 2021. To coincide with the reopening, the hotel is unveiling a new indoor swimming pool, which was part of a $2.2 million renovation.
"Reopening a grand hotel of this stature is no easy task," Dean Lane, general manager of the Palmer House, said in a statement. "In the months leading up to reopening day, the team at Palmer House vacuumed over 4 miles of carpet, changed 10,000 light bulbs, and for the first time, filled 14,600 gallons of water into our new swimming pool."
The Covid pandemic isn't the first major event that's forced the Palmer House to close its doors. The hotel first opened on September 26, 1871, and just 13 days later was destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire. It reopened in 1873.
The 1,641-room hotel has been known for many firsts over the years. It was the first hotel to use the lightbulb and telephone, the first fireproof hotel once it was rebuilt, and claims to be the birthplace of the original chocolate fudge brownie. It also was first to use a vertical steam lift, which would later become the elevator.