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Imperial: haunted or haute?

by Jay Hamburger OF THE RECORD STAFF

If someone sees a hair in their soup while dining at 6 Spoons on Main, they shouldn’t immediately blame the cook.

The building where a restaurateur wants to open 6 Spoons might be haunted, says an expert in Park City’s history.

The restaurant is slated to open late in the year in the abandoned Imperial Hotel, 221 Main St. The building dates to 1904, and Hal Compton, the research historian at the Park City Museum, says the ghost of a young woman shot and killed in the hotel is said to haunt its hallways.

The legend holds the woman’s husband killed her after he caught her cheating.

Compton provides few details about the piece of Park City lore, though.

"To this day, a ghost haunts the hotel, making strange noises and doing things with the lights," a narrative describing the Imperial’s history says.

The Imperial’s history is colorful, resembling that of other buildings left from Park City’s silver-mining heyday, which ran from the late 19th century until the middle of the 20th century.

According to the narrative, written for the Park City Historical Society, the building debuted as the Bogan Mine Boarding House, put up by the owner of the Bogan Mine Co. It was among the first boardinghouses built in Park City after the repeal of a state law that had required unmarried miners to live in company quarters near the mines.

The research indicates the building was used as a hospital in 1918 during a terrible flu outbreak.


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