Built 1928 "The Perfect Hotel" In 1918, Col. Baker and his niece Dellora Angell Norris inherited the fortune of the founder of Texaco Oil: Col. Baker's brother-in-law John Gates. Both Col. Baker and his niece Dellora invested the money in St. Charles. Col. Baker began construction on Hotel Baker in 1926. The estimated cost to build the hotel was $600,000 and two years later, the final price tag was $1,250,000. The hotel opened to 301 guests on June 2, 1928. The Hotel Baker eclipsed any building project the city had ever seen. Its rainbow-colored ballroom floor is the world's first lighted dance floor. The Hotel generated its own electricity with two hydro-electric generators. Live music that once played in the Rainbow Room Restaurant was connected to loudspeakers in the Municipal Building, making it a "singing tower" that played music across the downtown. The Hotel Baker was Col. Baker's home and was known across the world because of Baker's record-setting racehorse, Greyhound - the World's Champion Trotter.