Project #4 - Bullock Hotel
There were several rooms for rent in the early days; however, this was the first of the luxury hotels, built on the same property that Seth Bullock and Sol Star purchased for their mining equipment business in 1876. The hotel was constructed on top of the earlier built hardware store and opened in 1895.
Seth Bullock and Sol Star came to Deadwood in 1876 and started a hardware store on the southwest corner of Main and Wall Street. This was during the very early stages of Deadwood’s history, when the town was still within Sioux territory.
This location was unique, since the intersection of Main and Wall Street was considered by locals to be the dividing line between the “Badlands.” Anything east of Wall Street was considered lawless, immoral, and dangerous compared to the rest of the growing town.
The original hardware building was constructed mostly of wood and burned down in 1879. Their second building was made of brick and had steel shutters, which helped prevent another total loss. Those steel fire shutters can still be seen today.
In 1894, they began building the Bullock Hotel at a cost of $40,000 on the same location. To do this, they built over the existing fireproof hardware store, and the angle of the hardware’s roof was incorporated into the 2nd floor design.
Fun Nuggets:
Hauntings are commonly reported here, with customers and staff reporting footsteps, lights turning on and off, and shadows seen in hallway mirrors. Who can really know for sure, however? If you’re brave enough, take one of the evening ghost tours downstairs and make up your own mind.
Unverified stories of tunnels under the town were rumored to connect to the Badlands, allowing people to move between them undetected. I have been in several of these basements and can confirm that there are clear signs of disturbed walls and foundations. One site to examine for possible evidence of this is Outlaw Square. Under the building to the southwest, there is a small, gated door that provides access to the area beneath the streets.
This page is one of those that could not be re-created from the exact photographer’s footprint. He took this image after one of the great fires in the kitty-corner vacant lot from the Bullock, where the building had burned down. You can see some of the original foundation in the foreground of the 1890 image. Later, the Fairmont Hotel was built on this site.
One morning, while sitting at Bully’s Restaurant having breakfast, I noticed a suspicious-looking object—possibly a bullet that had been shot into a tree in the 1800s and later milled into wood for the windowsill.
