Gypsy Heart
Gold Member
The infamous Dell House was built in 1837 by a man named Allen. It stood near a place called the Narrows in a shady glen that was close to both a sandy river beach and a fresh water spring. The Dell House was not a classy establishment. It catered to the basic needs of the rough river men who came there... food, a place to sleep, bad whiskey, gambling and women. Violence was not uncommon here and it is believed that a number of unlucky patrons probably found their final resting place to be the muddy bottom of the nearby river.
The days of the river traffic eventually faded and the Dell House closed down. By 1900, the ramshackle building had been abandoned. Adventurous tourists and local residents occasionally camped out near the site and so began the tales of ghosts and phantoms who were said to walk the ruins of the house. Campers spread tales of ghosts and mysterious sounds like cursing, laughter, breaking glass and pounding footsteps coming from the old structure.
The house came to an end in 1910 when a fire burned the empty building to the ground. All that remained were the foundations of the inn, the fireplace and the towering brick chimney. Eventually, the ruins were engulfed by the surrounding forest. The forest glen near the Narrows still remains, although the Dell House is gone.
There are still many who believe that it's ghostly legacy lives on however. Those who have ventured out near the site after dark still claim that unusual sounds can be heard in that area of the forest and that shadowy figures still slip past the trees and disappear.
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Allen, the builder of the Dell house, became a hermit; he did not care to have anything to do with the summer people who began coming there, so he would immediately go in and close up the place. This building which he owned and occupied stood for a number of years, but was finally destroyed by fire.
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Robert V. Allen and The Dell House In 1838, shortly after the HoChunk ceded their lands, Robert Allen, Amasa Wilson, and C.B. Smith set out from Illinois to find their fortune in the Dells. They built a crude cabin on Black Hawk Island and clearcut the pines to be floated down river to markets on the Mississippi in the spring of 1839. After the prime timber was logged, Allen was the only one of the group to remain, becoming the first white settler north of Portage. Familiar with the needs of the lumbermen beginning to run rafts down river, Allen decided to use his cabin to provide a place for the men to eat, drink, sleep and amuse themselves after the difficult trip through the narrows. He opened an inn called the Dell House that offered food, lodging, gambling, and women for entertainment. By the early 1850’s, his simple shack was enlarged into a threestory structure with a plastered fireplace on the ground floor. Allen also operated a busy ferry across the Wisconsin River until he and a partner gained a charter to construct the first bridge across the Wisconsin at the Narrows. Allen, who never married and was known throughout the Dells as the man with a thick black beard who wore heavy black boots, sold the Dell House in 1879 as logging ceased and business dwindled. In 1899, the Dell House was destroyed by a fire set by vandals, but ghost stories continue to be told about the sounds and lights of the Dell House. The remaining root cellar can be found by following the sign at the bend in the stagecoach trail until you reach a beach where the river opens up. What remains of the Dell House structure itself was buried under water when the hydroelectric dam caused the river to rise.
The days of the river traffic eventually faded and the Dell House closed down. By 1900, the ramshackle building had been abandoned. Adventurous tourists and local residents occasionally camped out near the site and so began the tales of ghosts and phantoms who were said to walk the ruins of the house. Campers spread tales of ghosts and mysterious sounds like cursing, laughter, breaking glass and pounding footsteps coming from the old structure.
The house came to an end in 1910 when a fire burned the empty building to the ground. All that remained were the foundations of the inn, the fireplace and the towering brick chimney. Eventually, the ruins were engulfed by the surrounding forest. The forest glen near the Narrows still remains, although the Dell House is gone.
There are still many who believe that it's ghostly legacy lives on however. Those who have ventured out near the site after dark still claim that unusual sounds can be heard in that area of the forest and that shadowy figures still slip past the trees and disappear.
................................
Allen, the builder of the Dell house, became a hermit; he did not care to have anything to do with the summer people who began coming there, so he would immediately go in and close up the place. This building which he owned and occupied stood for a number of years, but was finally destroyed by fire.
........................................
Robert V. Allen and The Dell House In 1838, shortly after the HoChunk ceded their lands, Robert Allen, Amasa Wilson, and C.B. Smith set out from Illinois to find their fortune in the Dells. They built a crude cabin on Black Hawk Island and clearcut the pines to be floated down river to markets on the Mississippi in the spring of 1839. After the prime timber was logged, Allen was the only one of the group to remain, becoming the first white settler north of Portage. Familiar with the needs of the lumbermen beginning to run rafts down river, Allen decided to use his cabin to provide a place for the men to eat, drink, sleep and amuse themselves after the difficult trip through the narrows. He opened an inn called the Dell House that offered food, lodging, gambling, and women for entertainment. By the early 1850’s, his simple shack was enlarged into a threestory structure with a plastered fireplace on the ground floor. Allen also operated a busy ferry across the Wisconsin River until he and a partner gained a charter to construct the first bridge across the Wisconsin at the Narrows. Allen, who never married and was known throughout the Dells as the man with a thick black beard who wore heavy black boots, sold the Dell House in 1879 as logging ceased and business dwindled. In 1899, the Dell House was destroyed by a fire set by vandals, but ghost stories continue to be told about the sounds and lights of the Dell House. The remaining root cellar can be found by following the sign at the bend in the stagecoach trail until you reach a beach where the river opens up. What remains of the Dell House structure itself was buried under water when the hydroelectric dam caused the river to rise.
