Smyrna times., 1938-07-28
HOTEL REGISTER
ABOUT DENVER
Historic Records i'm Old Hotel
Recall Names of Famous
Guests
OF WINDSOR HOTEL

DenVST.-f1lSlOTy mas DG6Il SdIlOCO
of the original maple and walnut
ballroom floor of the famous Wind
sor hotel here, more than half cen
fury since it was laid. Records held
by the Colorado Historical society
reveal that the floor originally cost
$4,000.
Workmen cleaning the old ball
room discovered the floor on which
danced virtually every famous man
and woman Of the time. The ball
room for years had been used as a
storeroom. On tearing up the rough
pine covering, they discovered the
discolored maple and German wal
nut flooring.
The Windsor, built in 1880 when
gold and silver were magnets that
drew thousands to the Rocky noun
tains, today stands among pawn
shops, fophouses and cheap res
taurants.
At the close Of the Nineteenth cen
fury it was considered the "class"
hosiery between Kansas City and
San Francisco. During that Pc
riod of inflated prices, its rooms
were rented at fabulous prices.
q. S. Grant Signed Register.
Presidents Ulysses S. Grant,
Grover Cleveland, William Howard
Taft and Theodore Roosevelt all
signed the Windsor's register. o.
car Wilde. Rudyard Kipling, Mark
Twain, Robert w. Service, Robert
Louis Stevenson and Eugene Field
were numbered among its guests.
1t was the setting of the lusty love
story of the Vermont stonecutter,
H. A. w. Tabor, and his wife, the
beautiful actress, Baby Doe Nc
Court of Kalamazoo, Mich.
Tabor, after he ''struck it rich"
established the holding company
which controlled the famous hostel
ry. 1t was there that he spent his
honeymoon after he divorced his
first wife and married Baby Doe"
Tabor also pioneered modern
plumbing by importing one of the
first bathtubs brought to the Rocky
mountain area for use in his suite
in the Windsor. The line of cham
bermaids, bellhops and hotel au-
thorities carrying heated water
from the kitchen to that most Won
derful of devices was an awe-inspir-
ing ritual, old timers recall.
Tammen as Bartender.
Behind the Windsor's mahogany
bar, then studded with 5000 silver
dollars, Harry Tammen advertised
himself as ''the worlds best bar
tender" before he joined with Fred
G. Bonfils to found the Denver Post.
Tammen had occasion to serve
members of the Colorado legislature
when they met in a nearby room
before the Colorado state capital
was built.
The Windsor was built by an Eng
fish land company and its lines were
suggested by the British royal fam
ily's historic Windsor castle from
which it received its name.
Furniture similar in design to
that of the English castle was i'm
ported at a cost said to be $1,000
900. Rooms were heated by fire.
places, constructed of Colorado
granite-each had what at the time
was a daring experiment. coal
CRATE.
From the niche-like balcony at
the corner Of the hotels presidential
suite-occupied by the wealthy Mr..
and Mrs. Tabor when there were no
Presidents in town INN Theodore
Roosevelt made one of his fire and
birthstone campaign speeches.
Bleachers set up in the streets in
front of the hotel sold for $40 seat,
records show.
Paperhangers, in refurbishing the
room the temperamental Oscar
Wilde was supposed to have occu-
pied during his IL weeks stay in
Denver, found many layers of pastel
colored wallpaper, one on top of the
other. This substantiated the legend
that Wilde insisted on changing his
wallpaper almost weekly to meet
his varying moods.