Eldridge was active in the efforts to make Kansas Territory a free state. Formerly a Democrat, Eldridge joined the Kansas delegation at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, and in 1856 he attended the National Convention of the Friends of Kansas in Buffalo, New York. As a businessman Eldridge bought the site of the Free-State Hotel in Lawrence following its destruction by a pro-slavery mob in 1857.and built the Eldridge House with his brothers. After serving as a U.S. Army paymaster during the Civil War, Eldridge became a building contractor, building hotels in other cities, and Fraser Hall at the University of Kansas. The crisis of 1873 brought his construction work to a halt, but he engaged in mining in Colorado and Arkansas, from which he made and lost a fortune.
From the guide to the Memoir of early days in Kansas, 1859-1898, (University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research Library Kansas Collection)
