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Status: Former Residence, Former Hotel, Formerly Abandoned, Heritage Property, Museum
The Dewey Hotel Museum was built in 1899 by Colonel Jake Bartles, around the same time Dewey itself was founded. Bartles founded the city of Dewey and even had another town named in his honor. The small city soon began to thrive thanks to an abundance of oil, a typical story seen in many Oklahoma towns.
The Dewey Hotel has been transformed into a museum, showcasing period-appropriate furnishings and items from days past. The beautiful white building is three stories high, and it watches proudly over the city. The parlor of this magnificent Victorian beauty once served as a school and a Sunday school, thanks to Colonel Bartles’s wife, Nannie. Nannie and Jake used the home as their residence from 1907 to 1935, when Jake died.
In its days of operation, the hotel is rumored to have housed gangsters, outlaws, cowboys, and oil barons, among others. Whispers of prostitution, violence, and gambling at the Dewey Hotel continue to this day. There is an apparent hideout for the gamblers upstairs. While one of these rumors can be verified, it makes for an interesting tale in an otherwise sleepy town.
As updated fire codes became standard, the fire marshall condemned the hotel. The hotel sat abandoned for many years after. In 1967 the building was bought by a banker, then donated to the Washington County Historical Society. The current owners also own the Rose Marie Paranormal Research Society and allow investigations to be booked in advance.
Even though there are no verifiable sources of the illegal goings on of the hotel, the walls certainly seem to speak. Reports of whispers, moving objects, anomalies in photos, and the feeling of eyes watching your every move are common at the museum. The Spirit Box and EMF meters are said to get intelligent responses. According to several reviews, each higher story feels darker.
The third floor is said to be the most active and where there is a reported dark energy. Some have said they encountered the spirits of Jake and Nannie Bartles. Others still believe there is a spirit of an outlaw who met a violent death in the building. The portrait of Nannie seems to follow you as she lovingly watches over her home.
This is one location worth visiting in Oklahoma.