The Oxford Hotel

Posted: 11.18.2019 | Updated: 05.06.2025

Denver, Colorado was a place miners trekked through on their way to riches. It was a town where the American West’s finest could see and be seen. Many beautiful buildings and hotels found themselves in the middle of this frontier social scene. The Oxford Hotel was one of those buildings.

As Denver, and the Oxford Hotel, grew in stature and size, murder and tragedy followed suit. Today the historic Oxford Hotel is considered one of the most haunted hotels in Colorado because of these foul results.

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Is The Oxford Hotel Haunted?

This Denver haunted hotel has seen its fair share of drama, murder, and tragedy over the years. There are two noteworthy spirits that are said to haunt the Oxford Hotel to this very day. The hotel has tales of bathroom stalls locking themselves and sinks that turn on and off during the night. But Room 320 holds the truth behind the hauntings of The Oxford Hotel.

Early Denver

During the 1870s, the railroad arrived at what was then a small mining supply town. Change came with the railroads. With each train that pulled in, came a new wave of people that began to turn what was a small town into the the capital of the Rocky Mountains.

This population explosion started in the early 1870s, and Denver rapidly became the 25th largest city in the United States and the third-largest city in the West. Denver’s population soon reached 106,713 by 1890.

Along with this growth, the idea for the Oxford hotel was soon enough conceived by Frank E. Edbrooke, Colorado’s leading architect. When completed in 1891, the Oxford Hotel stood five-stories high. It preceded Edbrooke’s nine-story downtown Brown Palace hotel by one year.

The Oxford Hotel was funded by three men; local building and brewing tycoons Adolph Zang, Philip Feldhauser, and William Mygatt. They were tired of walking the mile from Union Station to the various downtown hotels and saw the need to create a first-class hotel near Union Station.

Success soon followed and the Denver hotel quickly became a staple of downtown Denver. Now it is a staple among the many haunted hotels in Denver. But first, let’s look at its history to understand how it could gain such a title.

The Oxford’s Beginnings

The turn of the century was a very successful time for The Oxford Hotel. Calvin Morse, the hotel manager during the 1920’s, stated that although the hotel was capable of hosting 35,000 guests a year, he often had to turn people away. But the hotel’s success began long before the roaring twenties.

The first owners decided to add a two-story addition on Wazee Street behind the property. The extension opened in 1902 and matched the terracotta and pink sandstone of the original building.

1906 saw a change in The Oxford Hotel team, with new managers being brought in, Charles B. Hamilton and James L. Brooks. Hamilton and Brooks remodled The Oxford Hotel and added on a wrought iron banister to the mezzanine monogrammed, with an “OH” in the center. They were also responsible for the added marble wainscoting, a café, and the basement barbershop received an exterior entrance.

Over the next 20 years, the United States as a whole underwent many changes in style and taste. Art Deco was the style of the moment, and the hotel was ready to catch up.

Denver architect Charles Jaka was responsible for adding an Art Deco look to The Oxford Hotel. Hand-carved panels by artist Alley Henson were added to the new Cruise Room cocktail lounge. Now all of Denver society could enjoy a drink in style.

The Oxford Hotel and World War 2

The sheer quantity of troops arriving daily at Union Station during WW2 meant The Oxford Hotel was always filled to maximum capacity. Every available space was used; including the attic and the broom closets. Hot coffee, doughnuts, and turkey sandwiches were served to the troops 24 hours a day by local Mothers of Denver servicemen who would set up shop in the Oxford to help the soldiers.

After World War II ended, Denver experienced its second major boom. The city emerged as a major tourist attraction, attracted many federal offices, and became a leader in hydropower.

The City Council launched an effort to rehabilitate its downtown, they started by demolishing virtually all of the existing nineteenth-century hotels. Fortunately, The Oxford Hotel survived this period of rapid upheaval as a landmark of respectability in a downtown that had seen better days.

The Cruise Room

The Oxford Hotel bar was first opened in 1891 and was known for its sophisticated cocktail menu, especially its martinis. It was later renamed the Cruise Room.

During the Prohibition era, The Cruise Room ran as a speakeasy, where codes and winks allowed illegal alcohol to flow. Employees were used secret tunnels and fake panels to serve and transport alcohol.

After Prohibition, the official opening of The Cruise Room took place, along with its newly completed interior and a full alcohol bar. In fact, the opening ceremony took place the day after Prohibition was officially ended. The bar has continually operated ever since its official opening, as a welcome extension of the hotel.

That’s because The Cruise Room, is to this day and independent operation, not officially a part of the hotel. The bar is managed in an amicable partnership between the bar operator and the Oxford Hotel.

In 2012, the marble floor of The Cruise Room was replaced as a part of a complete restoration project, this included historically accurate paint in a light-pumpkin color. It was the owner/developer, Ms. Dana Crawford, who initiated this restoration after she became a partner in the Oxford Hotel in 1980.

The cocktail menu was also thoroughly updated. There was a heavy emphasis on mixology, and the drink menu includes drinks like “Pineapple Julep”, “Whiskey Clover Smash”, and “Pomegranate Sling”. The bar also offers patrons martinis in over a dozen different configurations, all of which are served from oversized martini shakers.

Room 320 and Other Hauntings of the Oxford Hotel

A woman named Florence Montague shot and killed her lover In 1898, just before taking her own life in room 320. Ever since that fateful night, single, male guests in Room 320 have reported feeling their arms being pulled by unseen forces, and having sheets ripped off of the bed.

As well as being famous for its martinis and Art Deco style the hotel’s Cruise Room bar has a mysterious spectral guest, a postal worker. Bartenders often report seeing a Postal worker, dressed in an old-fashioned postal uniform. The man walks into the bar and orders a beer before muttering “the children, I have to get the gifts to the children.” He then drinks his beer and leaves. But, when the bartender picks up his bottle, it’s always full.

Newspaper archive research has unearthed the tragic story of a 1930s postal worker who was set to deliver Christmas presents to nearby Central City. The gifts never arrived, and when the winter snow melted later that spring, a decomposed body was found surrounded by all of the Christmas gifts. That beer at the Cruise Room may have been his last.

Haunted Denver

Today Denver is a vibrant city with many things to see and do. But it’s past is still as alive as its present.

If you find yourself at Denver’s most haunted hotel be sure to enjoy a drink with the postman, and if you are a single man make sure you watch out for Room 320! Book a Denver ghost tour for a more in-depth look at Denver’s many haunted locations!

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Sources:

• https://www.denver.org/denver-hotels/unique-denver-hotels/haunted-hotels
• https://www.theoxfordhotel.com/our-hotel/history
• https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/an-1898-crime-and-the-ghost-story-that-followed-inside-denvers-haunted-oxford-hotel
• https://jordyconstruction.com/portfolio/cruise-room-denver-restaurant-renovation/#:~:text=The%20Cruise%20Room%20at%20the,multitudes%20of%20customers%20ever%20since.