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 6th 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.
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| 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:
· 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.
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| 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.”
