Belvidere Mansion was built by entrepreneur, banker, and businessman John M. Bayless as a family home for his wife Mary and their children. After Mrs. Bayless moved from the home in 1919, it was used briefly as a hospital and then a hotel. In the mid-1920s, the Bell family purchased Belvidere and converted it into an apartment house. After standing vacant in the late 1980s, the iconic Claremore mansion fell into decay until the Rogers County Historical Society rescued it in 1991 and began restoring the three-story, 9,000-square-foot, four-towered brick home for the community.