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The Bullock Hotel

EVP Recordings Slideshows & Investigation Videos

My Conection to the Bullock Hotel

As a child, I had very vivid dreams of being a cowboy. I remembered dates, places such as Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Bad Lands, Interior and Deadwood South Dakota, but most of all the Bullock Hotel.

I also remember the names and faces of people like Wild Bill Hickok, Annie Oakley, Ike Clanton, and Jesse James. I told my parents about my dreams and they said they were just dreams and not to worry about them. But to me they were real.

In my dreams, my name was Frank Pierce. I was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico in May of 1862 and died at the age of 36 in Deadwood, South Dakota at the Bullock Hotel in 1898.

I WAS BORN ON May 3rd 1955.

About the Bullock Hotel

The Bullock Hotel was built by Seth Bullock between 1894 and 1896 from a converted warehouse to a 3-story hotel shortly after the Deadwood fire of 1894, which destroyed the original 2-story wood-frame building and devastated much of the town of Deadwood. It is believed that the hotel was originally constructed and decorated in a Victorian style with the first floor of the hotel boasting a large dining room in the rear, a kitchen and pantry, a sample room where salesmen could store their cases, a grand hotel lobby, and offices in the front.

The second and third stories are said to have had 63 luxury sleeping rooms with baths down the halls and two large banks of skylights for lighting the inner rooms with natural light. It is also believed that all rooms were furnished with iron and brass beds and oak furnishings.

The hotel was built by Seth Bullock, and his business partner Sol Star, in 1894 at a cost of $40,000.

About Seth Bullock and Sol Star

Seth was a Canadian-American, hardware store owner, sheriff, and a US Marshal. Contrary to popular belief, Seth did not die in room 211 at the hotel, but at his home on September 23, 1919 at the age of 70.

Sol Star was born on December 20, 1840 and died October 10, 1917 at the age of 77. Star was elected to the first town council in 1876, became town postmaster in 1877, and was elected mayor in 1884. He served ten terms for a total of 14 years as mayor of Deadwood.

The Remodel

The Hotel was sold to the Aryes family who in 1976 converted the building to a hardware store up until around 1991when the building underwent subsequent renovation by the new owners, Bullock Properties, to convert it back into a hotel.

The original furnishings had been sold at auction by the Aryes family in 1976, so in 1991-1993 the hotel underwent extensive renovation to re-create the original atmosphere and decor. The current owners state that the hotel has been "carefully restored based on the best available information regarding the late 1800s and by uncovering details that gave clues as to the original decor." Some changes included lowering some ceilings (due to heat accumulation at the ceilings), paint stripping and re-staining of most woodwork, and a re-papering and decorating of ceilings which was thought to reflect the hotel's original Victorian designs. 48-inch solid brass chandeliers were also introduced as light fixtures, chosen from replicas of the period. The kitchen and pantry were further converted into a restaurant and bar, Bully's, named for Seth Bullock’s lifelong friend, Teddy Roosevelt.

All in all, even with reported attempts to retain original floor plans as much as possible, the former 63 rooms were reduced to 28 in the restoration. This supposedly resulted in some rather unusual rooms with odd shapes and angles and a larger version of the original rooms from 1895. Modern plumbing and renovation brought the baths in from the hallway, and all rooms are equipped with private baths. Some luxury rooms are reported to have Jacuzzis and wet bars as well.