The Brown was built in the 1860s as a private cabin, and Capt. George Ryan and his wife operated the property as a school in the 1880s.
Ryan supposedly murdered his mistress Miss Whitney in The Brown, and her ghost is rumored to cause strange noises and movements. If the building is haunted, Cavanaugh jokes, the ghost left him alone but may have run out his ex-wife.
Around the turn of the century, Tom “T.A.” Brown developed it into Brown’s Motel.
“The miners loved him,” Cavanaugh said.
Travelers often visited the stable in the back before anywhere else in town to take care of their horses, and, at one time, the motel may have had the area’s only bathtub.
Guest rooms, some just larger than a single bed, were on the second floor, and Brown’s employees lived in the attic and basement.
In 1985, Cavanaugh bought The Brown and planned to make the building a health-spa retreat. He said he was undercapitalized, and, instead, The Brown became a fine dining establishment. He wore a tuxedo every night.