ball that reduced the landmark to rubble in the winter of 2005 punctuated the decision of local government and business leaders to close the door forever on that possibility. In the same year, Terre Haute officials decided to demolish the city’s landmark hotel, the city fathers of Oklahoma City decided to save theirs. The Skirvin Hotel, built in downtown Oklahoma City in 1910, had, by 1988, succumbed to the same societal changes and resulting economic realities that closed the Terre Haute House for good. Developers there spent $56.4 million to reopen the Skirvin as a 225-room hotel. About $18 million of the funding came in the form of public assistance. Various developers in Terre Haute came forth with proposals to renovate its famous hotel. These developers sought only $1,000,000 in assistance, either from the public sector or the Hulman family, which had in the past pledged that much to such a project. One such proposal estimated renovation costs at $20,000,000 to reopen the structure as a 138-unit Marriott by Courtyard. Terre Haute officials published its Request for Proposals on October 14, 2004, but withheld all forms of public support for any project involving the renovation of the existing structure. There is no real question as to whether the project could have been funded, or if the old hotel could have been restored to become one of the finest hotels in the state. Given essentially the same circumstances Oklahoma did it. Notable people in the history of the Terre Haute House Chauncey Rose. Early Terre Haute resident who, in 1831, purchased on both sides of what is now the city's Wabash Avenue. Rose later built the first hotel on that land, the Prairie House, in 1837–38, and operated it until 1841. The hotel reopened in 1849, was renamed the Terre Haute House in 1855, and sold to the Terre Haute Hotel Co. (formed by a group of local businessmen) in 1866. Rose Polytechnic Institute (today known as Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology) was named in his honor. William B. Hawkins. Hawkins purchased the Terre Haute House from the Terre Haute Hotel Co. in 1872. William B. Tuell and George F. Ripley. These gentlemen purchased the hotel from Hawkins in 1875. Ripley managed the hotel until 1878. Charles Baur. Baur leased the hotel in 1884 and installed electric lights in all of its rooms, making the Terre Haute House the first hotel in