Windsor Hotel, Americus: Floyd the Bellman and an 1892 Victorian Landmark

The Windsor Hotel fills most of a city block in downtown Americus, a red-brick Victorian landmark with towers, balconies and a three-story atrium lobby. It opened with a grand ball on June 16, 1892, survived decades of decline and a near brush with demolition, and reopened in 1991 after a restoration paid for by grants, private investors and the people of Americus. Today it is part of Choice Hotels’ Ascend Hotel Collection, with 53 period-style rooms and suites.

It is also one of the best-known haunted hotels in Georgia. Explore Georgia, the state tourism site, lists it among the state’s haunted stays, and the stories here are mostly gentle: a helpful old bellman named Floyd, and a little girl whose laughter guests say they hear in the halls at night. A local historian writing in the Americus Times-Recorder has looked hard at both, and we share what he found below.

The ghosts of Windsor Hotel, an Ascend Collection Hotel

Floyd Lowery, the bellman who stayed

Floyd Lowery (1905 to 1982) worked at the Windsor as a bellman and elevator operator for about half a century. The Americus Times-Recorder notes that in 1928 he waited on Franklin D. Roosevelt and had the future president’s suit pressed. The second-floor bar, Floyd’s Pub, is named in his honor, which is a nice irony: the paper describes him as a teetotaler who never drank.

The story told today is that Floyd never really clocked off. Explore Georgia says he remains “still quite helpful,” and guests talk about doors held, bags that seem lighter than they should and a sense of someone keeping an eye on things. Nobody describes him as frightening.

The little girl in the hallway

The sadder story concerns a housekeeper and her young daughter, named in some tellings as Emily and Emma Mae, who are said to have been pushed down the elevator shaft in the early 1900s. In some versions a local politician is to blame. Guests report a little girl’s laughter, small running footsteps and a child playing in the upstairs hallways late at night, and the Times-Recorder repeats a story of a new employee who quit for fear of her.

The same article is clear that no historical documents have been found to support the tale, and that it changes with each telling. Treat it as a legend, not a record.

The elevator shaft

The elevator did have a real and rocky early history. According to the Times-Recorder, a Cincinnati businessman named Richard Rust fell down the shaft in 1894 while trying to reach his room, and a Mr. A. A. Martin did the same in 1896. Both survived, and elevator troubles carried on for about fifteen years. Those true accidents may be where the elevator legends began.

Darker chapters

Like any old hotel, the Windsor saw real tragedy. Local newspapers of the time reported that an Albany businessman died by suicide in his third-floor room in 1906, and a bank cashier in 1908. The historian behind the Times-Recorder piece urges care with those old reports, since editors of the era sold papers with grisly stories, and with ghost stories that turn real people’s suffering into entertainment.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

• Upper-floor rooms off the main hallways: Where guests most often report the little girl’s laughter and footsteps. Ask for an upper floor when you book.
• Suites: The hotel’s 53 rooms and suites are each furnished differently in period style. A suite gives you more of the Victorian character and room to settle in for a long night.
• Floyd's Pub: Not a room, but the place to start. The second-floor bar is named for Floyd Lowery and is where guests raise a glass to him.

History of Windsor Hotel, an Ascend Collection Hotel

Plans for a destination hotel in Americus were first drawn up in August 1888, led by Major Moses Speer and businessman John T. Windsor. The town hoped to catch wealthy winter visitors from the Northeast heading south by rail. They hired Gottfried L. Norrman, a Swedish-born architect based in Atlanta, who designed a five-story Victorian building with towers, balconies and storefronts at street level, wrapped around a three-story atrium.

The hotel opened on June 16, 1892, with a ball that ran past midnight. A nationwide depression in 1893 brought money trouble, and ownership changed several times in the early 1900s. The Windsor modernized in 1910 with electric light, telephones and steam heat. According to the hotel, guests over the years included boxer John L. Sullivan, labor leader Eugene V. Debs and statesman William Jennings Bryan. Vice President Thomas R. Marshall spoke from the balcony in 1917, and Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke at the hotel in 1928, shortly before he became governor of New York.

After a short time as apartments, the hotel closed in the early 1970s after more than 80 years in business. In 1978 local citizens saved it from demolition and it was donated to the city. Restoration began in 1990, funded with nearly $6 million from grants, private investment and local support, and the Windsor reopened on September 20, 1991, with its marble floors, golden oak woodwork and wrought-iron railings restored. Former President Jimmy Carter, from nearby Plains, was a longtime supporter.

The building is a contributing property in the Americus Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. It was renovated again in 2010 and 2019, and joined Choice Hotels’ Ascend Hotel Collection, announced in late 2022.

Tips for a haunted stay

• Have a drink in Floyd’s Pub before bed and raise a glass to Floyd. It is the hotel’s own nod to its friendliest ghost.
• Ask for an upper-floor room if you want the hallways where the little girl is heard.
• Take time in the atrium lobby: stand on the upper landings and look down for the best view of the 1892 interior.
• Plains, with Jimmy Carter’s boyhood farm and the Carter National Historical Park sites, is a short drive west.
• Andersonville National Historic Site, the Civil War prison camp, is a short drive northeast and makes a sobering day trip.
• Americus is small and quiet after dark, so plan dinner early or eat at the hotel.

More haunted hotels nearby

• 1842 Inn, Macon: a Greek Revival mansion inn about 75 miles north
• The Partridge Inn, Augusta: a haunted 1830s hotel in Augusta
• The Marshall House, Savannah: Savannah’s oldest hotel and a Civil War hospital
• More haunted hotels in Georgia: our full state guide
• Haunted hotels in Georgia

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.

• Americus Times-Recorder: History, hauntings, and ghosts at the Windsor Hotel
• Windsor Hotel: History
• Explore Georgia: Spend an evening in one of Georgia's haunted hotels
• Wikipedia: Windsor Hotel (Americus, Georgia)
• Asian Hospitality: Windsor Hotel in Georgia joins Choice's Ascend Collection

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