Tall Tales & True Stories?
If the walls of Hotel Colorado could talk, they might begin with, “Pull up a chair, order a cocktail, and get ready for a story.” Over the past 130+ years, our “Grande Dame of the Rockies” has collected more legends than a campfire circle. Some are true, some are tall tales, and some are simply too good not to repeat. Let’s play a little game of Fact or Fiction with some of the most enduring myths about Hotel Colorado.
CLAIM: Doc Holliday stayed at Hotel Colorado
FICTION
Sorry, Western fans, this one does not hold water (or whiskey). Doc Holliday, the infamous gunslinger and gambler, did spend his final days in Glenwood Springs, hoping the hot springs might ease his tuberculosis. But he died on November 8, 1887 at the Hotel Glenwood, six years before Hotel Colorado opened in 1893.
So while Doc is forever tied to Glenwood Springs, and you can still visit his memorial at Linwood Cemetery, he never had the chance to check into our lobby.
CLAIM: The Teddy Bear was created at Hotel Colorado
UNCERTAIN (but we love the story!)
Here’s a legend with a little stuffing. In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt stayed at Hotel Colorado during a bear-hunting expedition. According to one version, he returned empty-handed, and the hotel maids, wanting to cheer him up, stitched together a stuffed bear from scraps of fabric. Roosevelt’s daughter Alice supposedly dubbed it “Teddy,” and the rest is toy history.
But Mississippi also claims the honor, where Roosevelt famously refused to shoot a captured bear in 1902, inspiring a political cartoon and the first “Teddy’s Bear.”
So, who is right? The truth is fuzzy. We are happy to share the credit. After all, what is more fitting than a cuddly legend born in the Rockies?
CLAIM: There was a waterfall and pond stocked with trout inside Hotel Colorado
TRUE
Yes, you read that correctly. Early guests of Hotel Colorado could stroll into the Palm Garden and Aquarium Room and marvel at a 25-foot indoor waterfall cascading into a pool measuring 36 by 24 feet, stocked with live trout. Imagine sipping tea while rainbow trout darted beneath your feet. It was part Victorian spectacle, part Rocky Mountain charm, and entirely unforgettable.
The trout pond is no longer with us, but the story still makes a splash.
CLAIM: Wild bears have been known to walk into the Hotel Colorado lobby
TRUE
Bears and Hotel Colorado go way back. In the 1920s, a black bear affectionately known as Pete became a regular visitor. Groundskeeper John Pretti would escort Pete back to the forest like an old friend out for a stroll. Later, Pretti even rescued two orphaned cubs, raising them at the hotel until they made their grand debut in the Strawberry Days parade, perched in a tree float to the delight of onlookers.
And it is not just history. On a warm summer day in recent years, with the lobby doors propped open for a breeze, a curious young black bear casually wandered in, strolled through the lobby, and exited out the other side, much to the surprise of guests.
CLAIM: Glenwood Hot Springs Pool is owned by Hotel Colorado
TRUE and FALSE
This one is a little complicated. Walter Devereux, the silver baron who built Hotel Colorado in 1893, also built the Glenwood Hot Springs Pool in 1888. For a time, the two were under the same ownership, particularly between 1937 and 1946.
Since then, the hotel and the pool went their separate ways. Today, Hotel Colorado is proudly owned by the Melville family, who purchased it in 2018 and launched a $10 million historic renovation. The Hot Springs Pool, meanwhile, has its own ownership group.
So while we share a common origin story, we are more like friendly neighbors than siblings these days.
CLAIM: Hotel Colorado was once a U.S. Naval Hospital
TRUE
Here is one that sounds like fiction but is absolutely true. During World War II, the U.S. Navy leased Hotel Colorado as a convalescent hospital. From 1943 to 1946, more than 6,500 patients passed through its doors. The hotel even had a naval brig in the basement, proof that our history is as surprising as it is colorful.
CLAIM: Are there secret tunnels at Hotel Colorado once used by gangsters?
MAYBE
Now here is a story that could have been lifted straight from a Hollywood script. For decades, whispers have persisted about a secret tunnel running from Hotel Colorado’s basement to an outbuilding, supposedly used by none other than Al Capone during Prohibition. According to local lore, the tunnel allowed Capone to smuggle liquor and, in some accounts, women into the hotel, away from prying eyes.
The tale gets juicier. Some say Capone even used the hidden passage to socialize with female staff. The tunnel, which reportedly dead-ends in an alley behind the hotel, is off-limits to the public today, adding to its air of mystery.
While the legend is a favorite among locals and visitors alike, definitive proof is questionable. Still, the story fits neatly into the Prohibition-era backdrop, when underground liquor routes and gangster escapades were the stuff of everyday headlines.
Legendary Lodging
From trout ponds to teddy bears, presidential visits to bear parades, Hotel Colorado has always been a place where fact and folklore mingle. That is the magic of staying here. You are not just booking a room, you are stepping into a living legend.
So the next time you walk through our lobby, take a look around. You never know if you will bump into a ghost from the past, a story waiting to be told, or, if the doors are open, a very curious bear.