This collection (140 items) contains 137 receipts, bills, and checks related to the initial furnishing and continuing supply of food for the Cozzens House Hotel in Omaha, Nebraska, between 1867 and 1868. The collection also contains are 3 letters respecting an 1868 legal dispute between the hotel's later lessees and the real estate company Credit Foncier of America.
The Correspondence series (3 items) contains 1 letter to John W. Little of Newburgh, New York, and 2 to Charles G. Little pertaining to a legal dispute between the hotel's owners, the Credit Foncier of America, and a new lessee, Seth W. Hale. The dispute concerned furnishings left behind by the building's first tenants, Edward Cozzens and John M. Bettman. A letter by James W. Savage provides a history of the hotel's ownership and furnishings (October 22, 1868).
Financial papers (137 items), which comprise the bulk of the collection, include checks, receipts, and bills of lading between Edward Cozzens & Co. and local and national merchants. The papers reflect the company's initial attempts to furnish the building and the hotel's ongoing needs after opening. Early documents include an account for the purchase of glassware, serving dishes, furniture, and décor. Later material concerns food, beverages, and ice. Receipts also document the hotel's advertising costs and the need for a commercial job printer to produce menus and stationery. Many of the shipping receipts concern the Chicago & North-Western Railway Company.
The first hotel in Omaha, Nebraska, the St. Nicholas, opened in 1854, and was followed by several other hotels throughout the next decade. In May 1867, George Francis Train (1829-1904) was staying in Omaha when he determined to build a hotel to compete with the Herndon Hotel, then the city's largest. After approximately two months of construction, the hotel was rented to Edward Cozzens and John M. Bettman, who ran it for about one year. The Cozzens House became the city's premiere hotel, though it was eventually forced to close on account of legal disputes and changes in ownership. In 1890, Dr. J. W. McMenamy, president of the Omaha Medical and Surgical Institute, purchased the hotel and transformed it into the institute's building. In 1895, the building became the home of the Presbyterian Omaha Theological Seminary until the construction of a new seminary. The Cozzens House Hotel was demolished in 1902.
