A large group, mostly made up of men, but including a few women, is gathered in front of the Hotel Fontenelle in this black and white photograph. The people in the group are attendees at a federal food administration meeting held in Omaha, Nebraska, on September 11, 1918. The man in the center of the second row, to the right of a woman wearing a large-brimmed hat, may be Gurdon W. Wattles, federal food administrator for Nebraska. The hotel is a brick building with a large awning bearing its name hanging over the door.
The Hotel Fontenelle opened on February 15, 1915. It operated as a hotel until 1971, and the building was razed in 1983. Source: Spencer, Jeffrey S. Building for the Ages: Omaha's Architectural Landmarks. Omaha: Omaha Books, 2003, p. 35.
