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Stanley Hotel in Daylight

Sorry for the delay everyone - and now, back to the Stanley Hotel Ghost Tour!

 

By the turn of the century it appeared that the lives of the ingenious F.O. Stanley and his twin brother were truly blessed. They had become millionaires in their 30s by inventing "Dry Plate technology" and being bought out by George Eastman of Kodak. They followed this up with the extremely successful Stanley Steamer company. But the turn of the century saw a change in their luck; F.O.'s brother Freeman would shortly be killed in a car accident, while in 1902 F.O. was diagnosed with tuberculosis.

 

The doctors worked feverishly, but to no avail. Eventually all they could do was to recommend he move somewhere less humid. After consideration, the extremely ill F.O. and his wife Flora made their way to Denver, Colorado having been assured that its dryness made it the best location to relocate to.

 

Unfortunately, upon reaching their destination the local doctor they contacted also sadly told them it was the most polluted city in the United States. Ironically, life in Denver promised an even swifter death from tuberculosis for F.O..

 

Unable to help F.O. and hoping to ease his passage, the Doctor told the dying tycoon that he had a cottage near the Rocky Mountain National Park in a place called Estes Park. He offered it to them as a place to live out the last few months of F.O.'s life where he would be surrounded by the beauty of the Colorado countryside.

 

F.O. and Flora made their way to Estes Park. But the lingering, painful death they expected never happened. Miraculously, and to the shock of their Denver doctor, the air of Estes Park cured the deathly ill F.O..

 

To preserve his health, F.O. and Flora made their permanent home in Estes Park. They purchased large lots of land from Lord Dunraven and built a beautiful new home. But Flora, who was used to the busy social circle back home in the east hosting hundreds of dinner guests, grew lonely and bored. Not one to lay idle, she reckoned that if she couldn't go to her friends, why couldn't they come to her and also enjoy the wonders of Colorado. She asked F.O. if they could invite all their friends out west to visit them, which F.O. wisely agreed to. Flora instantly threw herself into the building of a guest house to house all her friends.

 

That "guest house" is now called the Stanley Hotel.

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Uploaded on July 26, 2010
Taken on June 17, 2010