Est. 1896 · Gilpin County Mining Era · Colorado Gaming Legalization 1992 · Black Hawk Commercial History
Black Hawk, in Gilpin County, was one of the richest mining camps in Colorado's 1859 gold rush. The town developed rapidly along North Clear Creek, and its Main Street accumulated the hotels, saloons, and boarding houses that served the mining population.
The 1896 brick structure at 111 Main Street replaced an earlier wood building that had housed Black Hawk's first schoolhouse. Julius Kline built the current structure, which operated as a hotel through various ownership configurations. Under Otto and Ruth Blake it was a local institution, with the Mine Shaft Bar in the basement serving the community for decades.
Colorado voters approved limited-stakes gaming for Black Hawk, Central City, and Cripple Creek in 1990. The Gilpin reopened as a casino on October 1, 1992, capitalizing on its historic building and prime Main Street location. The venue has since expanded and modernized its gaming floor while retaining the 1896 building's footprint and actively marketing its paranormal reputation. The former hotel rooms are no longer rented to the public; the property today is a gaming floor and the on-site Lucille Malone's Restaurant.
Sources
- https://thegilpincasino.com/history/
- https://townsquarenoco.com/a-ghost-named-lucille-still-lingers-in-this-colorado-casino/
- https://www.legendsofamerica.com/co-gilpincohaunting/
ApparitionsLights flickeringObject movementDoors opening/closingSensed presence
Lucille's story comes in two versions, and neither is conclusively documented.
The casino's official history identifies her as Lucille Malone, a Black Hawk schoolmarm living in room 105 in 1905, who fell in love with a man named Jonathan. Jonathan developed tuberculosis and relocated to New Mexico for his health. Lucille, devastated by the separation and unable to follow, died in the hotel.
A second version, circulated in local Gilpin County paranormal accounts, holds that Lucille's lover was an area miner killed when a wagon ran over him in the street in front of the hotel. She witnessed it from the building, then threw herself from the balcony into the same street.
Both versions end in her death in or at the building. Both have her remaining on the second floor.
The 1990s account is among the more narratively complete. A man living in the hotel reported lights switching on and off in his room, then heard pots and pans falling in the downstairs kitchen. He investigated and found the kitchen on fire. The sequence — lights, then pots, then fire — was interpreted as a warning. Whether Lucille had a culinary opinion about fire safety or a more urgent sense of what was happening below is a question the account leaves open.
A manager separately reported seeing a woman enter a second-floor room. He followed immediately and found the room empty. One of the casino's restaurants is named for Lucille, making her the most commercially integrated ghost in Black Hawk's gaming district.
Notable Entities
LucilleLucille Malone
