Built in 1892 as the centerpiece of an effort to transform Americus into a winter resort for wealthy Northern tourists, the Windsor Hotel is one of Georgia’s most impressive historic hotels. Though it didn’t succeed in turning Americus into a resort destination, it became a popular cultural center for the city, with a regular clientele. A syndicate of ten local businessmen, known as the Americus Manufacturers and Improvement Company (AMIC), were the original investors. In 1890 they selected Swedish-born Atlanta architect G. L. Normann to design a property worthy of their aspirations, with an initial budget of $80,000. The bricks and all other building materials were produced locally, at a site near Magnolia Dell, just beyond the Church Street and Spring Street intersection. After first planning to call it the “Alhambra”, the AMIC opted instead to name it the Windsor, for fellow board member John T. Windsor (1847-1930). Windsor had risen from meager circumstances in Webster County to become one of the most successful businessmen in Americus, and later lived in Havana, Cuba, and Winter Haven, Florida.
By 1899, the AMIC declared bankruptcy and the hotel was sold to jeweler Charles A. Fricker. It was purchased by hotelier Howard Dayton in the 1930s and remained open as apartments until 1974, at which time it was abandoned and its fate uncertain. Luckily, restoration began in the 1980s and the property is again a full service hotel, hosting visitors from around the world.
Prominent guests throughout the hotel’s history included: John L. Sullivan, William Jennings Bryan, Eugene V. Debs, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.
Americus Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Pingback: Windsor Hotel in Americus, GA - Atlanta Ghost Tours
When I went to school at GSW back in the 80s, the Windsor was semi abandoned. There were dead pigeons in some of the rooms upstairs. The theatre club held a “Madrigal dinner in the foyer each year, complete with minstrels and serving wenches. We could only afford the student tickets, so we had to watch from the second floor balcony, eating grapes. Good memories.
Great memory. Thanks for sharing.
We love Americus and the Windsor. We’ve stayed there several times and look forward to our next visit.
Americus is full of homes built before the Civil War. Sherman did not burn Americus. The church where I grew up is still there and was built in the 1700’s. The pews are put together with wood pegs. First Presbyterian. There are so many other historic homes to take pictures of in Americus.
Indeed there are; it’s a beautiful town. I hope to find more time for photographing neighborhoods next time I’m there. I do wonder, though, how the church was built in the 1700s, since Americus was settled in the early 1830s.
According to the First Presbyterian Church Americus GA Facebook page:
Founding date
June 19, 1842