Madison, WI — A ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the completion of an extensive top to bottom, interior and exterior renovation of the former Inn on the Park hotel on Madison’s Capitol Square will be held on Tuesday, February 28, 2017 at 11:30 a.m. The hotel has returned to its original name of the Park Hotel and is now a Best Western Premier, offering upscale service and surroundings.
Speakers at the ribbon cutting will include Senator Fred Risser, Alderman Michael Verveer, Bradley Mullins and hotel General Manager George Wiesner. Senator Risser, who is a member of the commission commemorating the 100th birthday of the State Capitol, will speak to the hotel’s importance to Madison retaining the State Capitol in the late 1800’s. At that time, a movement occurred to try and move the Capitol to Milwaukee due to a lack of a Madison hotel. Local businessmen pooled their resources to build a grand Capitol Hotel to keep Madison as the State Capitol. The Park Hotel welcomed its first guest in August of 1871. It remains 146 years later as the only Capitol Square hotel.
The Mullins Family purchased the hotel in 1976. The hotel’s new interior weaves the building’s history into the artwork and design of the remodeling. The timing of the renovation coincides with the 100th birthday of the State Capitol. Many historic pictures, glass etchings and the original Capitol’s brass elevator doors are integrated into the hotel’s interior design. “The Mullins family wanted to create a hotel worthy of its prominence on the Capitol Square,” said Manager Wiesner. “And they succeeded.”
