Ten-story 1911 luxury hotel — once Bismarck's tallest building — where seventh-floor residents report big-band music from the closed eighth floor and Peacock Alley bartenders find clean glasses moved overnight.
422 East Main Avenue, Bismarck, ND 58501
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Peacock Alley American Grill & Bar — moderate dinner pricing. Upper-floor apartments are private senior housing.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Ground-floor restaurant is accessible; historic building with elevators in the residential portion.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1911 · Tallest Building in Bismarck on Completion (1911) · Original Name: McKenzie Hotel · Prohibition-Era Speakeasy History · National Register of Historic Places (1976) · Home of Peacock Alley, Bismarck's Oldest Restaurant (since 1933)
The Patterson Hotel was constructed in 1910-1911 by Edward G. Patterson as a luxury hotel for the booming territorial capital. It was initially named the McKenzie Hotel in honor of Alexander McKenzie, the powerful turn-of-the-century Bismarck political operator. At ten stories the building was the tallest structure in Bismarck and dominated the downtown skyline for decades.
During Prohibition the hotel reportedly operated speakeasy spaces in its lower levels — a chapter of the building's history that local guides cite when discussing its haunt reputation. In 1933, immediately after Prohibition's repeal, the Peacock Alley restaurant and bar opened on the ground floor. Peacock Alley has continuously occupied the space since and is generally recognized as the oldest restaurant in Bismarck.
The hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. In the 1970s, declining downtown hotel demand led to the renovation of the upper floors into senior efficiency apartments, rebranded as Patterson Place. The ground-floor Peacock Alley restaurant remained throughout the conversion and continues to operate today.
The building is a recurring stop on the URL Radio Downtown Bismarck Haunted History Tour, which links the property to the early-twentieth-century reputation of downtown Bismarck as 'Murderers Gulch' (Broadway) and 'Bloody 4th' (Fourth Street), where gunfights, stabbings, and saloon brawls were common.
Sources
The Patterson Hotel's haunt reports are gentle and remarkably specific. According to HauntedHouses.com and the Peacock Alley official history, seventh-floor residents have repeatedly reported hearing the sounds of a party — big-band music, voices, and footsteps — coming from the eighth floor, which is closed and unused. The reports cluster late at night and the source is never located when investigated.
In the ground-floor Peacock Alley restaurant, the most consistent account involves the bartender's rack of clean glasses. On multiple occasions, staff opening the closed bar in the morning have found glasses removed from the overhead rack and arranged on the bar top and at tables, despite the restaurant having been locked and empty overnight. Patrons and staff also report disembodied voices in the dining room and the sense of an unseen entity moving through the space.
Local interpretation attributes the activity to former hotel employees and Prohibition-era patrons. The Patterson is a featured stop on the URL Radio Downtown Bismarck Haunted History Tour, which contextualizes the building within the rough early-twentieth-century history of 'Murderers Gulch' and 'Bloody 4th.' No single named ghost is associated with the building; the reports are workplace-tier and atmospheric rather than dramatic.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Eat in the ground-floor restaurant that has occupied this space since 1933 and is regularly cited as the oldest restaurant in Bismarck. Bartenders have reported clean glasses being moved from the rack to the bar and tables overnight when the closed bar is empty.
Walk-up view of the ten-story 1911 hotel, once the tallest building in Bismarck and a stop on the URL Radio downtown haunted history tour. Upper floors are private senior housing.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Medora, ND
The Rough Riders Hotel was built in 1884-1885 by George Fitzgerald in the frontier town of Medora, North Dakota. Originally named the Metropolitan, it was renamed in 1903 to honor Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders, the volunteer cavalry regiment that fought in the Spanish-American War. Roosevelt delivered a speech from the hotel's balcony that same year.
Denver, CO
The Brown Palace Hotel opened in 1892, built by Denver real estate developer Henry Cordes Brown on a triangular plot at 17th and Broadway. Constructed of Colorado red granite and Arizona sandstone with a distinctive eight-story atrium topped by stained glass skylights, it has operated continuously for over 130 years. Every U.S. president since Theodore Roosevelt — except one — has stayed at the hotel.
Apalachicola, FL
The Gibson Inn was built in 1907 in Apalachicola, Florida by James Fulton Buck as the Franklin Hotel. In 1923, sisters Annie and Mary Ella 'Sunshine' Gibson purchased the property and renamed it. The hotel served as U.S. Army officers' quarters beginning in 1942. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 and reopened that year after a major rehabilitation.