From 1893 until now: Documentary tracks history of Milwaukee's Pfister Hotel

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- The Pfister Hotel made its mark in Milwaukee 120 years ago. What started as a simple request from Marcus Hotels and Resorts to make a short video to celebrate the famous hotel, turned into a much larger project.

"In the process of that we learned that there is so much history and story behind this hotel going back to 1893," said Cory Zimmermann.

Owners of Z2 Marketing Cory Zimmerman and Deb Zindler became enthralled with what they were discovering and turned it to into a documentary.

"The Pfister: History and Story" chronicles how it was founded by Guido Pfister to be a signature of the city.

"It was the first hotel in America that has thermostats, it was one of the first hotels that had electric lights," said Zimmermann.

Big name celerities from Elvis to Joan Rivers and nearly every sitting president since 1893 has stayed at The Pfister.

"These people have walked these floors and these hallways for 120 years. It`s pretty impressive," said Zimmermann.

But for years, The Pfister wasn't properly maintained and was nearly demolished until it was purchased by the Marcus family in 1962.

"In purchasing it they knew they had to invest a lot of money to fix it and give it a new life," said Zimmermann.

After months of research, shooting, and editing, Zimmerman and Zindler found out they have been nominated for an Emmy for their efforts.

Although honored, Zimmerman says the true reward is sharing this amazing story with the public.

The Emmy award ceremony will be held on November 1st.