Menger Hotel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Menger Hotel, located in downtown San Antonio, Texas, was built in 1859 (23 years after the fall of the adjacent Alamo) by German immigrant William Menger. In 1898, Theodore Roosevelt used the bar to recruit Rough Riders which fought in Cuba in the Spanish-American War.
The Menger was San Antonio's most popular hotel in the 19th Century. O. Henry, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Mae West, Babe Ruth, Oscar Wilde and others were known to frequent the bar and hotel, which was periodically enlarged and remodelled to accommodate more guests.
In 1876, the first public demonstration of barbed wire ever was held outside the Menger and orders taken afterwards inside. In 1885, Richard King, the south Texas entrepreneur and founder of the King Ranch, died at the Menger. In 1907, the San Antonio section of the National Council of Jewish Women was organized at the Menger.
In the late 1920s the hotel was acquired by Galveston banker and insurance man, William Lewis Moody, Jr., who added it to his portfolio of hotels under the National Hotel Company.[1]
The hotel also holds the unofficial title of "The Most Haunted Hotel in Texas." The Menger claims to host 32 different spirits including Richard King and Sallie White, a maid at the Menger who was murdered by her husband and buried at the hotel's expense.[2]
The Menger is currently owned by Galveston, Texas-based 1859 Historic Hotels, Inc.[3]
[edit] References
- Historic plaque (Menger Hotel) outside Menger Hotel, erected in 1976, viewed 14 November 2005
- Historic plaque (Barbed Wire Demonstration) outside Menger Hotel, erected in 2000, viewed 14 November 2005
- Historic plaque (San Antonio Section, National Council of Jewish Women) outside Menger Hotel, erected in 2000, viewed 14 November 2005
[edit] External links
- Menger Hotel site
- San Antonio Visitors' Guide
- Menger Hotel from the Handbook of Texas Online
- Texas History 101: Tales of Teddy Roosevelt swilling, recruiting, and raising hell in and around San Antonio’s Menger Hotel
Coordinates: 29°25′29″N 98°29′11″W / 29.42472°N 98.48639°W
 |
This article about a building or structure in Texas is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
