Louis Dupuy's Hotel de Paris Is "Residually Haunted"

In recent years, “dark tourism” (visitation of cemeteries, battlefields, ghost towns, haunted buildings, etcetera) has become popular within the heritage tourism community due to the popularity of books such as Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and Devil in the White City.  The term “dark tourism” was first coined in 1996 by Professors John Lennon and Malcolm Foley of Glasgow Caledonian University, Department of Hospitality, Tourism & Leisure Management.

Anne Marie Cannon of Silver Queen Walking Tours
(Image courtesy of Mountain Living magazine)

Here in Georgetown, Colorado, Silver Queen Walking Tours offers three themed guided walking tours, and according to owner/operator Anne Marie Cannon, her “Georgetown Ghost Tour” is the most popular experience no matter the time of year.

Once viewed as a distraction from the scholarly study and appreciation of historic places, many professionals now accept (and even invite) tourists who were once viewed as a nuisance because of their interest in paranormal and macabre subjects.

Hotel de Paris Museum is no exception from the interest of dark tourism visitors.  Our staff is often asked about ghosts and hauntings, especially leading up to and through the month of October, and Visit Clear Creek has designated Hotel de Paris Museum “certified haunted.”

Marquee on Louis Dupuy's Hotel de Paris
(Image courtesy of Clear Creek County Tourism Bureau)

Hotel de Paris Museum falls into a type of dark tourism known as “supernatural tourism.”  Therefore, Anne Marie Cannon put me in touch with paranormal investigator and filmmaker Alan Megargle who came to the hotel in 2018 with team member Anna Meyer Evans to help answer the question, “Is the hotel haunted?”

Leading up to the visit by these paranormal investigators, staff reported encountering smells with no apparent source.  The list includes coffee, bread, frosting, oranges, cinnamon, curry, perfume, and cigars.  A quick inspection of receipts belonging to proprietor Louis Dupuy indicates all these items were purchased by him.  Other otherworldly experiences have been indistinct sounds of people moving about in the Commercial Kitchen and on the 2^nd Floor, the wild swinging of velvet ropes around cordoned off areas, the loud clattering of dishes and silverware in the Restaurant Dining Room, and an insistent rattling of a doorknob in the Hotel Laundry.

Louis Dupuy's order included oranges

Megargle’s team brought high-tech equipment to detect additional activity.  They used a REM Pod (to detect magnetic fields), flashlights (for spirits to interact with), an EVP (to capture electronic voice phenomena), a spirit box (to generate white noise that allows spirit voices to come through to the physical world), and an Ovilus (to produce words from environmental factors).  Our word list included cold, chest, hurt, remember, scruple, haze, papa, calm, beg, drive, and Tesla (perhaps Nikola Tesla, who visited Georgetown sometime from May 1899 to early 1900).

"Ghosts in Ghost Towns" explores the eerie remains of the mining boom, the stories of the people who lived there, and the subsequent spirits that still haunt the towns of the Wild West.

Ultimately, Alan and Anna determined Louis Dupuy’s Hotel de Paris is peaceful and has a residual haunting, not an intelligent haunting.  See their investigation in the documentary Ghosts in Ghost Towns: Haunting the Wild West.

Interested in visiting to find out for yourself?  Guided tour reservations available at hoteldeparismuseum.org.  Open weekends only in October and November.

Room Numbers: Aligning Reproductions With Preservation Standards

Hotel de Paris Museum retains approximately 90% of the furnishings original to proprietor Louis Dupuy, who owned and operated Hotel de Paris from 1875-1900.  Missing furnishings (amounting to approximately 10% of the furnishings) are inconsequential in telling our story of reinvention and second chances in the Western United States.

Due to the immense quantity of furniture, fixtures, tools, dishes, decorative objects, artworks, books, periodicals, maps, food, drink, etcetera, it appears James J. White (the attorney who settled Dupuy’s estate)  instructed Howard Strousse (a friend to Dupuy) to list only major pieces in an appraisement bill and, in the interest of time, forgo recording the existence of architectural features such as light fixtures, door and window hardware, and room numbers.

Ghost mark at entrance of Sample Room 2

Paper template for installation of reproduction number

New brushed brass room number

For unknown reasons, some of these brass room numbers did not survive.  Entrances to Rooms 2, 6, 7, and 10 showed ghost marks and evidence of mounting hardware, but the numbers were no longer present nor were they discovered in the museum's artifact collection.  Replacement of missing features was substantiated by physical evidence provided by surviving numbers from Rooms 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 11, 12, and 14.  Room 13 was never marked.

It was important to align the project with historic preservation standards.  Like the addition of street numbers to the façade of Hotel de Paris Museum in 2012, a decision was made to use compatible numbers to distinguish between original and reproduction (for more information on this subject, read the blog article “Street Numbers:  Addressing Modern Requirements Within an Old Context”).  The slight difference in text styles is helpful in distinguishing between old and new and will have no significance or alter the site’s integrity.

Ghost mark on door to Room 7

Paper template with level line

Completed project

Woodland Manufacturing of Meridian, Idaho was chosen to fabricate custom compatible numbers.  Clarendon Bold URW, 1/4" thick, 2" high in brushed brass with hidden flush stud mounting hardware was chosen.  The font is a "contemporary remake of the truly classic slab serif typeface."  Ashley R. Wilson, Graham Gund Architect with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, provided consultation on the selection of the reproductions.  She observed, "The font you selected, especially if the size is almost the same, is appropriate."

The generosity of Debra DeForest, active member of The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of Colorado, made the project possible.

Casino Stakes Too High for Hotel Proprietor Hazel McAdams

Hotel de Paris proprietor Hazel Burkholder McAdams walked away from a $75,000 cash offer (approximately $1,006,085 USD) in 1946.  The proposition to purchase Louis Dupuy's Hotel de Paris for use as a supper club was made by Ova Elijah “Smiling Charlie” Stephens, a former bell hop in Denver who became a well-known gambler and ex-convict who was arrested 45 times in St. Louis, Missouri and served one jail sentence there.

Mug shot for Ova Elijah "Smiling Charlie" Stephens

Stephens was also questioned in the kidnapping of wealthy investment broker Charles Boettcher, Junior.  Smiling Charlie served as a go-between for the kidnappers and Boettcher Family.  Smiling Charlie was treated with suspicion, but nevertheless given $60,000 ransom money (approximately $1,207,302 USD) by Boettcher’s desperate family.  He was returned unharmed, claiming no knowledge of his kidnappers or anything that happened during his kidnapping.

Smiling Charlie was always on the hustle.  He made cash offers for real estate to widows facing finances on their own.  He made money through farming, real estate sales, and the operation of casinos, hotels, and night clubs.  He also bought and sold stocks and traded the commodities of lard, wheat, butter, soybeans, rye, and corn.  A couple years earlier, Smiling Charlie purchased the Wolhurst estate from Julia Bennett, widow of real estate mogul Horace Wilson Bennett.  The sprawling property was established by Colorado Senator Edward O. Wolcott and was so large, it covered land in both Douglas and Arapahoe counties.  Mrs. Bennett expected the home and grounds to be converted into a “fine restaurant and social club."

Wolhurst
Littleton, Colorado

Wolhurst, the namesake of the country estate, was a Tudor style mansion with a 60-foot-long library and billiard room perfect for entertaining.  After Senator Wolcott’s death in 1905, Thomas F. Walsh bought the property, expanded the residence, made improvements to the grounds, and hosted William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States of America.  Colorado Pioneers in Picture and Story reported, “The property now stands as a model for vast country estates of wealthy American gentlemen who seek the leisure and comfort of the English nobility.”

In 1910, Walsh sold the estate to realtor Horace W. Bennett and his father-in-law Jerome S. Riche.  Horace Bennett, his wife Julia Riche Bennett, and the Riches ran Wolhurst as an English country home.  They increased acreage, acquired additional water rights, and introduced dairy farming.  Scientific farming and stock breeding were Mr. Bennett’s hobbies.  Crops, milk cows, and poultry were raised. 

When Mr. Bennett died in 1941, his widow listed the property for sale, and it was subsequently purchased in April 1944  for $78,000 (approximately $1,159,284 USD) by Smiling Charlie and his partner (and son-in-law) Edward J. “Eddie” Jordan or Eddy Jordon for use as the fashionable Wolhurst Saddle Club.  Smiling Charlie was fresh-out-of-prison for assault and attempted murder; nonetheless, each man chipped in $14,000 cash and the remaining $50,000 was executed through a deed of trust.  Smiling Charlie had the financial resources to add 750 additional acres to the property, which served as a posh supper club, athletic club offering swimming and horseback riding, and gambling house for prominent Denver residents.  The city’s elite played dice and poker games, slot machines, and roulette wheels.

Matchbook (exterior)

Matchbook (interior)

A holdup of Wolhurst’s high rolling patrons occurred on Sunday, March 10, 1946, when thirteen “heavily armed bandits” (one brandishing a machine gun) made off with $75,000 in cash and another $75,000 in cash from men’s wallets and jewelry from women guests.  The robbery took just 15 minutes and went unreported.  When Sheriff H. Robert Campbell asked club manager Eddie Jordan about the disturbance, he replied there had been none.  In fact, authorities had not a “single clue,” including no complaints filed, no accounts of what was taken, no description of the robbers, and no insurance claims filed.

The following month, authorities padlocked Wolhurst Saddle Club.  The injunction was granted by District Judge G. Russell Miller when some Denver residents testified to gambling at the establishment.  According to The Record Journal of Douglas County, it was “the first public admission of a fact which has long been known.”  One of the people who testified was Morey Goldberg, owner of Goldberg’s Furniture and Imperial Furniture Company. 

$5 chip from Wolhurst Saddle Club

Sherriff Campbell and special investigator Lawrence Stone recovered from Wolhurst’s gambling house two crap tables, a faro table, three slot machine stands, five chairs, playing cards, membership cards, a metal box for chips, a $5 poker chip (approximately $67 USD), a Ouija board, a $300 receipt for federal taxes paid on slot machines issued to Ova Elijah Stephens and Edward J. Jordan (approximately $4,024 USD), and two signs which read, “Our Dice Are Guaranteed To Be Absolutely Square.”  The casino would remain padlocked until June 10, 1946 and there was a possibility the closure would become permanent.

With all of this going on, it is no wonder by the end of 1946 Smiling Charlie cashed out of his investment in Wolhurst Saddle Club to Eddie Jordan (who later legitimized the business) and began looking for other prospects.  Smiling Charlie was involved in the Midway Hotel and Silver Star Night Club in Arkansas; when these businesses began to struggle financially, he became interested in buying Louis Dupuy’s Hotel de Paris from Hazel Burkholder McAdams, a church-going, tea-totaling widow headed for financial insolvency.

Hazel Burkholder McAdams at
Louis Dupuy's Hotel de Paris

On August 22, 1947, The Denver Post announced, “It was recently reported that an alleged gambling trust was prepared to offer Miss (Hazel Burkholder) McAdams $75,000 for the building (Hotel de Paris) following the spectacular Wolhurst robbery in 1946.  Miss McAdams, it is said, would not even talk to the gamblers’ representatives.”  It seems no coincidence that the offer to McAdams equaled the amount of cash stolen from Wolhurst Saddle Club the previous year.  It may be this threat of risk to Hotel de Paris that spurred the State Historical Society of Colorado to begin discussions in earnest of purchasing the property from McAdams for a house museum.

Once Hazel McAdams rebuked Smiling Charlie’s offer, he busied himself with farming, operating the Stockade (consisting of ten acres of land and a building used as a gambling house), horse racing, betting at Centennial Race Track and Ak-Sar-Ben Race Track. betting on elections, and financing automobile purchases for Fred Ward, a Hudson automobile dealer and distributor in Denver.

Fred Ward was the number one Hudson dealer in
Colorado and one of the top dealers in the United States

With the loss of his interest in Wolhurst Saddle Club and financial problems at the hotel and night club in Arkansas, Smiling Charlie focused on the Stockade.  According to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, “When the Stockade opened for the night’s business, a bank roll was supplied by the petitioner (Ova Elijah Stephens) and his partner, during the existence of his partnership, and thereafter by the petitioner alone.  The bank roll varied from $8,000 to $10,000 (approximately $87,927 USD to $109,908 USD), with larger amounts on weekends and as much as $30,000 (approximately $329,725 USD) on each New Year’s eve.  The bank roll was placed in the cashier’s cage and was used to cash chips presented by patrons when they finished an evening’s play.” 

Patrons bought in for credit and settled by checks at the end of the night.  Income was taken off site nightly, perhaps to avoid another robbery.  The money was placed in safety deposit boxes rather than bank accounts at either the United States Bank (Denver, Colorado) or Littleton National Bank (Littleton, Colorado).  The Stockade’s proceeds were used to purchase real estate, including ranches.  However, because the money was not deposited, O. E. Stephens was wanted by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue for tax evasion.

Ultimately, Hazel Burkholder McAdams encountered financial hardship and owed property taxes she could not pay.  Therefore, in 1954 she sold Louis Dupuy’s Hotel de Paris and its collection of original furnishings to The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of Colorado for $15,100 + $25 per month living expenses for the rest of her life (approximately $146,836 USD + $243 USD).  Mrs. McAdams died a childless widow in 1966 at the age of 76.

Societal Shift: State Groups Collaborated to Save Hotel de Paris and Its Library

By November 1944, Hotel de Paris proprietor Hazel Burkholder McAdams was acquainted with The State Historical Society of Colorado.  This familiarity prompted John Evan (Society President), LeRoy R. Hafen (Society Executive Director), and Edgar C. McMechen (Curator of Archaeology) to recognize Mrs. McAdams as an important source of historical data for Georgetown, Colorado.

Mrs. Hazel Burkholder McAdams
at Hotel de Paris (1949)

It was at that time, Mr. McMechen asked questions about the state of preservation of Louis Dupuy’s Hotel de Paris and its potential use as a house museum (by the end of 1944, New York had forty house museums and Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and California had done much in this respect).  Officers, directors, regional vice-presidents, and administrative staff of the Society were anxious to catch Colorado up with these other states and called on Mrs. McAdams with the hope Hotel de Paris would become a house museum.

Hotel de Paris became Hotel de Paris Antiques in 1949

However, the cordial relationship between the Society and Mrs. McAdams was tested in 1948 when Mr. McMechen was told one of Louis Dupuy's original French etchings had been sold to "some Texas woman for $65.00" and other furnishings were being considered for sale to "some people from Texas."  The woman and people from Texas were Mrs. R. H. Lowery of Lubbock and her family, distant relatives of Mrs. McAdams.

By then, it appears the Society had determined to convert the operating hotel and restaurant into a house museum but understood the significance of the site was its original furnishings displayed in situ.  Mr. McMechen stated, “…the Hotel de Paris would be of no value to us as a house museum without the original articles” and continued, “I am very much disturbed that anything that belonged to Louis (Dupuy) should be disposed of as long as there is a chance that we may be able to negotiate the purchase of Hotel de Paris.”

Hotel de Paris is a time capsule that contains
approximately 90% of Louis Dupuy's furnishings

The following year, Mrs. McAdams closed the hotel and restaurant and, in its place, opened Hotel de Paris Antiques.  It is believed she brought in antiques and only used the dining room of the hotel as a showroom.  It appears Mr. McMechen’s words of caution motivated Mrs. McAdams to protect the site’s collection of original furnishings, which is why so much remains intact to this day.

After the antique shop proved inadequate to generate enough revenue to support Mrs. McAdams and pay her back taxes, she was finally forced to sell the furnished hotel.  The nagging concern that items had been sold seems the likely reason The State Historical Society of Colorado ultimately did not pursue the purchase of the property for its house museum initiative.

James Grafton Rogers, husband of
Cora Mae Peabody (a Colonial Dame)

By then, the president of the Society was James Grafton Rogers, Police Judge (Mayor) of Georgetown, Colorado, and former Assistant Secretary of State in the Hoover Administration.  Mr. Rogers was aware the furnished hotel was available for purchase and the Society was no longer pursuing acquisition. 

Because of the lack of a qualified buyer, Mr. Rogers became concerned about the fate of Louis Dupuy’s Hotel de Paris and suggested to his wife Cora May Peabody (Governor James H. Peabody’s daughter) she propose to her fellow members of The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of Colorado (NSCDA in CO) they purchase the property to preserve it.

In 1954, the preservation-minded women’s group bought Louis Dupuy’s Hotel de Paris lock, stock, and barrel and transformed it into an historical site open to the public.  A plaque given in recognition of Mrs. McAdams’ stewardship of the site credited her efforts to protect the hotel.  It states, “To record the public services/of/Sarah Burkholder/And her daughter/Hazel Burkholder McAdams/Who preserved/The Hotel de Paris/And its chief furnishings/For half a century.”

In a show of support for this remarkable save, the Society presented "Photostats of Primary and Secondary Sources on Hotel de Paris and Louis Dupuy Prepared for State Historical Society of Colorado" which was prepared by Gene M. Gressley, Assistant Historian.  In addition, the Society declared, “The Hotel de Paris is probably the most unique and complete parcel of early Colorado History in Colorado”  and installed on Hotel de Paris a bronze tablet that reads in part, “Erected by/The State Historical Society of Colorado/And/The Colonial Dames Society in Colorado/1954.”  A second bronze plaque was added in 1962, when The State Historical Society of Colorado marked the former location of the McClellan Opera House (lost to fire in 1892).  The Society worked with the NSCDA in CO (which owns the land on which the opera house stood) to emplace a memorial which interprets the history of the theatre.

A portion of Louis Dupuy's library was showcased
in Sample Room 2

This good working relationship between the two historical groups led to the NSCDA in CO in March 1967 to consider a gift of Hotel de Paris’ literary and political library to the Society on the conditions 1) it was insured, and 2) stayed on site.  The “library” meant the collection of books, periodicals, and maps and was not related to any specific physical location.

Louis Dupuy's personal library
included literary and political works

This library was compiled by Louis Dupuy, who filled his free time reading about religion, philosophy, home keeping, science, health, anatomy, politics, civics, history, and war.  From his days in seminary, he maintained an interest in classical literature and the arts.  A former journalist, Dupuy subscribed to newspapers and magazines, studied reviews and lectures, examined biographies, and kept up with popular fiction.

“In view of the Society’s interest in the Hotel de Paris, the board reacted favorably to the suggestion.”  Therefore, the library was donated with the proviso that the assemblage of items be preserved as a collection which would remain at Hotel de Paris if the site were maintained as a public museum, and the books, periodicals, and maps were properly insured by the Society against fire, fire-related damage, theft, and vandalism.  The State Historical Society of Colorado extended its insurance coverage to meet the expectations of The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of Colorado.

In a letter of acceptance dated February 28, 1968, W. E. Marshall, Executive Director of The State Historical Society of Colorado wrote, “The (Historical) Society agreed that the library could remain in the hotel (Hotel de Paris), where it is meaningful.”

Hazel Burkholder in Louis Dupuy's former study,
which contained literary reviews and fiction

Just ten years later, a return of the library’s ownership to the NSCDA in CO was being discussed.  A memorandum from Mr. Marshall to Stephen H. Hart regarding the Hotel de Paris Library announced, “If they (NSCDA in CO) want to have the books returned to their ownership, the Society board would have to prepare a bill for introduction into the Legislature for that purpose --- to be uncontestably legal.  However, upon examination of the law governing deaccessioning of Society holdings, you may determine that a return of the material to the original donor may not require Legislative action.”

In 2008, the Society (under the direction of Chief Executive Officer Ed Nichols) reduced its insurance expenses by deaccessioning the collection and returning ownership of the library to the NSCDA in CO which stores, maintains, and insures the items.

Presently, Hotel de Paris Museum staff is helping fulfill the organization’s mission of sharing the history of Louis Dupuy’s Hotel de Paris by creating free online searchable databases for the public.  As of February 2021, books, periodicals, and maps have been returned to their historical locations in the hotel and one of five databases is already online; it is anticipated the second database will be available by March 1, 2021.  These inventories will reflect the hotel’s library holdings divided into five historic groupings: Sample Room 1, Sample Room 2, Room 13 (Office), Room 14 (Study), and The Burkholder Family Collection.

Pottery Knobs Offered Affordability and Durablility

Pottery knobs located in parts of Louis Dupuy's Hotel de Paris were made of baked clay glazed in brown, white, or black.  Catalog advertisements published and distributed by Sears, Roebuck and Company, Montgomery Ward & Company, Penn Hardware Company, Charles A. Strelinger & Company, Branford Lock Works, Bliven, Mead & Company, and several other firms made the products widely available.  Finishes were marketed as mineral (mottled brown), porcelain (white), and jet (black).  Doorknobs came with Japanned mountings in quantities of 12 to a box or 25 dozen to a case.

Bennington Knobs

Christopher Webber Fenton of Bennington, Vermont acquired Patent No. 6907 from the United States Patent Office on November 27, 1849 for an improvement in glazing pottery-ware.

Patent tag for Fenton's glazing technique

Fenton invented a "new and useful improvement in the applications of colors and glazes to all articles made of potters' materials," including doorknobs and shutter knobs.  Also known as Flint Enamel Ware and called Agate Ware, his process of coloring and glazing with deep and light shades closely imitated seashells, variegated stones, and fluids in motion.

C. W. Fenton

Several years after Fenton's patent was granted, former slip script pottery button maker D. Wheeler of South Norwalk, Connecticut produced in 1853 mineral knobs for doors, furniture, and shutters out of red, white, and black clays.

Wheeler's pottery knobs were finished in Rockingham glaze, which is described as a thick brown finish.

Commercial Kitchen-mineral shutter knob

Pottery Knob Inventory

Hotel de Paris employed pottery knobs in staff quarters, public spaces, and back-of-the-house locations.

2nd Story (Powers Bldg., c. 1870)

Room 3-porcelain set

Room 4 (exterior)-mineral knob

Room 4 (interior)-porcelain knob

Room 7-jet set

Room 8-porcelain set

1st Story (Hotel de Paris, 1878)

Commercial Kitchen (northeast)-mineral set

Commercial Kitchen (southeast)-mineral set

Commercial Kitchen (west)-mineral set

Commercial Kitchen (south exterior)-porcelain knob

Commercial Kitchen (south interior)-mineral knob

Laundry-mineral set

Passage to SR2-mineral set

Passage to Room 13-mineral set

1st Story (Hotel de Paris, 1882)

Cellar (exterior)-mineral knob

Cellar (interior)-porcelain knob

Cellar (Hotel de Paris, 1882)

Passage from Butcher's Shower to Coal Room-porcelain set

2nd Story (Hotel de Paris, 1882)

Lodger's Half-Bath-porcelain set

2nd Story (Hotel de Paris, 1889)

Room 5-jet set

Room 6-jet set

Room 6 Bath-mineral set

Early Furnishings Helped Fund Purchase of Powers Building

Initially a commercial tenant, restaurateur and hotelier Louis Dupuy sought to elevate and convert Delmonico Bakery, which occupied the Powers Building on Alpine Street (now 6^th Street), into a first-class French restaurant.  This transformation would require a setting deserving his reputation as best cook in the Colorado Territory and his interest in selling French flair in one of the West’s most famous and bustling silver mining camps.

As a tenant, Dupuy’s ability to adapt the building was limited or not allowed; therefore, he purchased the Powers Building with intent to expand and remodel the restaurant dining room and add a large commercial kitchen.

A $200-$300 reward (approximately $4,332-$6,498 USD in 2020) Dupuy earned for his heroism in saving lives in a mining accident some years before would have been used to take over the bakery, establish Hotel de Paris, and move overseas family members Sophie and Jean-Antoine Gally to Colorado for staffing Dupuy’s venture.

Joshua Monti

By January 1877, a combination of items (perhaps left by bakery operators and added to by Dupuy) resulted in the following list of movable personal property included in the document “Chat. (Chattel) Mort. (Mortgage)/Louis Dupuy/To/Joshua Monti” from Book 42, Page 202 and Book 37, Page 405:

·       15 beds and bedding clothes
·       10 silver dinner casters
·       Cream, sugar, and butter stands
·       54 pans and cooking utensils
·       10 dozen glasses
·       10 dozen plates
·       10 dozen cups and saucers
·       10 dozen dishes
·       20 carpets
·       12 cases of different wines
·       A small house and laundry
·       8 chandeliers
·       All other furniture, appliances and utensils used in carrying on the hotel business

Probably in conversation among merchants along Alpine Street (a popular pastime even today), Dupuy and Joshua Monti (a Swiss immigrant who ran a neighboring bakery and grocery store) discussed a business agreement and entered a financial arrangement. 

The Monti Block contained a bakery and grocery

Dupuy sought to mortgage assets (chattel) of his hotel  for $700 (approximately $17,328 USD in 2020) plus 1/4 interest ($17.50) to raise money towards purchasing the Powers Building for $1,250 (approximately $30,943 USD in 2020).  If Dupuy failed to pay the loan off, his restaurant and hotel furnishings could easily be used by Monti in his myriad business ventures, and Monti would gain from the elimination of Dupuy’s competition (like Dupuy, Monti sold food, wine, liquors, and cigars); however, the mortgage stipulated Dupuy's possessions would be confiscated and sold if the loan and interest were not paid back in six months (June 29, 1877).

An important factor in Dupuy’s desire to own the Powers Building and expand his restaurant was the imminent arrival of the Colorado Central Railroad to Georgetown on August 1, 1877.  The welcoming crowd numbered an estimated 8,000 people, which to a restaurateur translates into many potential customers and countless gourmet meals and bottles of imported wines.

Dupuy experienced highs and lows in 1878.  About this time, he proposed marriage to Eda Bryant; Dupuy’s proposal was refused.  We may never know if Dupuy was trying to impress Eda with his entrepreneurship or simply trying to distract himself from a broken heart, but after successfully raising $1,250 Louis Dupuy purchased the Powers Building on the West ½ of Lot 3 in Block 20 from Edward R. Powers.

By the end of the year, Dupuy’s plan to “refit” the kitchen was mentioned in the Colorado Miner newspaper and right away, interest was generated.  In March 1879 (during renovations to expand and improve the restaurant dining room), Dupuy hosted mining, railroad, and financial tycoons Jay Gould, George Gould, General Grenville Dodge, Sidney Dillon, Russell Sage, G. H. Baker, Oliver Ames, W. A. H. Loveland, and E. K. Berthoud in what became known as The Millionaires’ Dinner or A Gentlemen’s Dinner in the Rockies.  The men arrived on a special train from Golden, Colorado, then boarded carriages in Georgetown for a short tour of the settlement.  Dupuy prepared and served Oysters on the Half Shell, soup, Ptarmigan or Pheasant in Casserole, Venison Cutlet, Sauce Piquant, Sweetbreads Eugénie, vegetables, Apple Fritters, salad, French Bread, Peach Charlotte with Brandy Sauce, petits fours, and coffee.  During the meal,  Dupuy gave his “Souvenir of Alençon” speech:

Gentlemen, I love these mountains and I love America, but you will pardon me if I bring into this community a remembrance of my youth and my country.  To have the human name preserved has ever been, not only the desire, but one of the illusions of my race, and will doubtless always be.

Mausoleums are built and tablets hewn for the purpose of binding memory, the fact of a life.

In the very earliest of Hindu mythology the milk of the sea was mystically churned to make the amrita, which gave immortality; and all the literature since, bears trace of similar fancies.  This desire to be remembered, that our dust shall retain the tender regard of those whom we leave behind, that the spot where it shall lie will be remembered with a kind of soothing reverence, that our children will visit it in the midst of their sorrows, and our kindred, in after times, will find that a local inspiration hovers round it, has been one of the most potent forces in the history of men.  It created literature, architecture, and the art of war; it built pyramids, started the crusades, discovered, penetrated and peopled America.

And so, my friends, this house will be my tomb…and if, in after years, someone comes and calls for Louis Dupuy, show them this little souvenir of Alençon which I built in America, and they will understand.

In 1975, portions of Dupuy’s speech were repeated by journalist Charles Kuralt during a CBS Television episode of “On the Road.”