The plans for the hotel were announced in August of 1929 and the hotel was completed in 1931. It was the Emerley family who financed the building of the hotel. The family made its riches in the processing of the by-products of the Cincinnati stockyards. When the hotel opened in January 1931, it had the very latest in technology and comfort. The hotel opened with seven restaurants; the Rotisserie Grill; the Coffee Shop; the Pavilion Caprice; the Arcadia Tea Room; the Luncheonette and the Frontier Room. In 1942, the hotel was damaged by fire. Most of the damage was because of the water used to extinguish the fire. The chandeliers were destroyed and were replaced with a mural. In the year 1985, the hotel earned the National Landmark status and earned a place on the National Historic Register. The Lady in Green is without a doubt the most famous ghost of the hotel. She is said to still haunt the halls of the Hilton Netherland Plaza to this day. It is said that The Lady in Green was the wife whose husband was killed in an accident. She was the wife of one of the hotel’s labourers back in 1930. Her husband was killed during the construction of the hotel a year later. His body was never found and it is said that his wife continues to search for his body even in the afterlife. Construction workers who helped in the hotel’s renovation in 1983 have reported seeing her on the Mezzanine level and the Hall of Mirror