[8] Gerard immigrated to the United States in 1866 and briefly worked in New York City as a writer, until he was caught plagiarizing a piece of writing which he sold to the Illustrated Newspaper as his own.

For unknown reasons, he deserted soon after, changing his name to Louis Dupuy and walking on foot to Denver, Colorado, where he found work with the Rocky Mountain News as a mining reporter beginning in 1868.

[12] Soon after, the community in Georgetown raised money which enabled him to rent the Delmonico Bakery in the Powers Building, plus two smaller adjacent structures, which he transformed into the Hotel de Paris.

[16] Dupuy ensured that the hotel was fitted with the very latest conveniences, including gaslight (replaced in 1893 with electric lighting), radiant heating, and washbasins in every room equipped with hot and cold running water.

[17] Dupuy acted as chef in addition to hotelier, using his familiarity with French cuisine to offer unusually refined fare to hotel guests.

[25] Some of the more notable guests of the Hotel de Paris included the railroad speculator Jay Gould, photographer William Henry Jackson and English explorer Isabella Bird.

[26] The hotel reached the peak of its success in the early 1890s, but the Panic of 1893 caused a permanent drop in the value of silver, from which Georgetown's mining-dependent economy never recovered.