Cabinet photograph of Leroy Buffington, c.1895. Photographer: George W. Floyd.

James G. Blaine and Benjamin Harrison delegates to the Republican National Convention cheering in the hallways of the West Hotel, 1892.

The West Hotel, several decades old, in 1910, on Fifth Street and Hennepin Avenue, looking west.

The West Hotel, Fifth Street and Hennepin Avenue, c.1902.

The lobby of the West Hotel, c.1890. It was one of the largest lobbies in the country at the time.

The West Hotel, on Hennepin Avenue, looking west from Fourth Street, 1890.

The West Hotel, looking down Hennepin Avenue from Seventh Street, 1885.

Proposed drawing of the West Hotel, c.1884.

The completed West Hotel, Fifth Street and Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, c.1897.

Panoramic view of the Stone Arch and Tenth Avenue bridges, c.1900.