St. James Hotel - Cimarron, NM
N 36° 30.303 W 104° 55.240
13S E 507103 N 4039971
A hotel where notorious wild west outlaws and famous lawmen stayed.
Waymark Code: WM18E82
Location: New Mexico, United States
Date Posted: 07/17/2023
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The St. James was built in 1872, on the recommendation of President Ulysses S. Grant, by Henri (later Henry) Lambert, personal chef of President Abraham Lincoln. Lambert moved west and settled in Elizabethtown, New Mexico with hopes of making a wealthy strike. Lambert found little gold and opened a restaurant and saloon. Elizabethtown, Cimarron and the surrounding area was owned by Lucien B Maxwell. Maxwell enticed Lambert to come to Cimarron, where
Lambert founded the Lambert Inn, which would later be renamed the St. James.
The St. James was visited by many famous lawmen and notorious outlaws and was the scene of many murders.
When the roof was replaced in 1901 by Henry Lambert's sons they found many bullet holes. A double layer of hardwood stopped anyone from sleeping upstairs from being killed. Today, the dining room ceiling still holds some twenty bullet holes.
The St. James fell into disrepair after the railroad came through and effectively killed the Santa Fe Trail, as gold dwindled in the area. From 1926-1985 the hotel passed from owner to owner, in 1985 the St. James was restored to its former glory.
In January 2009 the hotel was purchased by the Express UU Bar Ranch: a property of Express Ranches(headquartered in Yukon, OK). The St, James went under extensive renovations where the dining room and bar were merged into one large area, the outside deck and lawn became a walled-in courtyard and patio complete with a fountain. The St. James reopened on June 22, 2009
The above information is from: (
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The St. James Hotel is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Antique Hotels, NRHP, Haunted Places
There are mountains nearby but they are a little over 15 miles from Cimarron.