The Don CeSar Hotel and Resort was built by Thomas Rowe and opened in1928. It was designed in the Moorish style with a huge courtyard bedecked with fountains. Rowe died in 1940, and after his death, the hotel was sold to the military and turned into a Veteran's Administration hospital in 1945. Numerous renovations took place after this and the vast lobby and its fountains were destroyed. Finally in 1973, a serious effort to restore the great structure was made and the Don CeSar became an operating resort hotel once more.
It was the renovations in the 1970s that the ghost of Thomas Rowe made his first appearance. He has been sighted in many locations throughout the hotel, including the dinning room, the lobby and the elevator-only to disappear into the crowd. He has frequently been seen talking to the quests and asking them if their dinners were fine and if the accommodations were satisfactory, just as he liked to do in life.
From journal Our Really. Big Florida Adventure!