Jørgine Boomer

Jørgine Slettede Boomer (August 18, 1887 – May 7, 1971) was a Norwegian-American businesswoman and entrepreneur, noted for her rags-to-riches story as a poor immigrant who became the co-owner and manager of one of the world's largest luxury hotels, the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.

Biography Jørgine was born into a poor family supported by the tenant farm of Utafor, under the farm of Galde nordre in the Bøverdalen valley in Lom Municipality in Kristians amt (county), Norway. In 1903, she and her older sister Mari emigrated to the United States. Their journey was long and arduous as they often were at the time: They first walked 20 km to the center of Fossbergom, then on the back of a horse-drawn cart to Otta, and from there the train to Kristiania. From there they traveled by boat to Bergen, boarded a liner to Hull, England, and from there by train to Liverpool. In Liverpool, they stayed in a boarding house with twenty other women. They left for the New World on the ocean liner RMS Cedric, and arrived, with 2,800 other passengers, in New York City ten days later on June 14, 1903.

Once landed in New York, they traveled by train to Minneapolis via Chicago, and finally arrived in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, where they were met by their uncle Ole. They were immediately put to work, possibly to repay the debt of their passage. Jørgine worked at her uncle's farm, but also as a nanny at a neighboring farm, while attending several evening courses.

Georgia and her husband managed The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel during its most celebrated era. The original Waldorf-Astoria was torn down in 1929 to make room for the Empire State Building. Lucius Boomer had retained exclusive rights to use the name Waldorf-Astoria. Boomer was in retirement in late 1929 when he was asked if he would head up a new Waldorf-Astoria. On October 1, 1931, the new Waldorf-Astoria was opened to the public. On June 26, 1947, Lucius Boomer died at 67 years of age while vacationing in Hamar, Norway. On October 12, 1949, the Waldorf became a Hilton Hotel. Although The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel passed to Conrad Hilton, Georgia continued to manage the hotel for several years afterwards.

Lucius and Georgia had befriended many of the celebrities of their time. Among them were presidents Herbert Hoover, Harry S Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower; performers such as Charlie Chaplin, Benny Goodman, Douglas Fairbanks, and Kirsten Flagstad; explorers Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen, Trygve Lie as well as members of the Norwegian royal family. She helped a young Frank Sinatra launch his career by allowing him to perform there,

Legacy Georgia Boomer purchased several properties in Norway, and after her death the urn with her ashes were deposited at one of her farms. Her name is also remembered in connection with the house on North 30th Street in Phoenix, Arizona designed for her in 1953 by Frank Lloyd Wright, commonly referred to as the Jørgine Boomer Residence.