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