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Magnolia Hotel (Seguin, Texas)

A two-room log cabin in Seguin, Texas, sheltered travelers on the frontier as early as 1844, during the Republic of Texas, and became known as the Magnolia Hotel. An adjoining concrete building was erected by early 1847. Then a larger, two-story frame building replaced the log cabin by 1853.

The Magnolia Hotel was included in the Historic American Buildings Survey (H.A.B.S.) in 1934, and is part of the downtown Commercial District listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

The Magnolia's limecrete section was built by John Park, a chemist and doctor who experimented with concrete after moving to Seguin in 1846. The hotel was probably the first 'Park's concrete' building in town, and is surely the oldest still standing.

John Park's work, with his imitators and rivals, led to Seguin having the largest concentration of mid-19th-Century concrete structures in America.

The dating of the concrete hotel is established because the formidable Captain Jack Hays, "perhaps the most famous Texas Ranger" according to Willie Mae Weinert's ' 'Authentic History of Guadalupe County' ', married Susan Calvert, daughter of Jeremiah Calvert, the hotel's owner, "in the south room of the concrete portion of the hotel on April 29, 1847, Rev. John M. McCulloch presiding." The bride's family traced back to Lord Baltimore, who had launched a colony in Maryland, while Rachel and Andrew Jackson were aunt and uncle of the groom.

Park's limecrete would have been made from caliche and gravel dug on the site, mixed with lime, sand, and water, and poured into wooden forms. Already on the lot was a two-room cabin built of logs originally gathered to build a stockade as defense against possible Indian raids. Instead, the logs were sold to Texas Ranger James Campbell, one of the town's founders. His cabin became the point of defense: A pioneer later recalled being among frightened women and children taking shelter in the basement when an Indian raiding party neared town.

The two-story frame building that now sits atop the large basement, replacing the cabin, dates from the early 1850s. It shows graceful Greek Revival symmetry and detailing around the door, and a roofline similar to that of the concrete house known as Sebastopol built 1854-56.

Frederick Law Olmsted passed through Texas writing dispatches to the New York Times, some years before his design for New York's Central Park made him famous as "the Father of American Landscape Architecture". He visited Seguin in February, 1854, and wrote with surprise about its many concrete buildings. And he noted, "The hotel is large and good." That he made no mention of the hotel itself being of concrete implies that he was referring to the much larger wooden building, dating it to about 1853.

Jeremiah Calvert sold the property to Dr. William Reid, who operated the hotel from 1850 to 1860, then Thomas Dickey Johnson owned it until 1900. Together they encompassed the years when the Magnolia served as an overnight stop for stagecoaches making their runs from the coastal ports to San Antonio and points west. A young slave had the honor of ringing the bell to announce the stage's arrival, and to summon guests at mealtime, and in emergencies. The stone the youngster stood on remains in place.

The story is told that the bell came from the Alamo, having been found in the San Antonio River in 1845, and was used at the Magnolia until about 1900. Later Mrs. Joseph (Ella Peyton Dancy) Dibrell of Seguin purchased and donated the bell to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, managers of the Alamo shrine.

During the stagecoach years, from 1848 to about 1880, the arrival of the stage was the most important event of the day, as in every small town. It brought tired and hungry visitors, salesmen, settlers, or investors. And it delivered the mail; newspapers and magazines with articles on news, science, or ladies fashions; special-ordered merchandise; sometimes even cash. The Magnolia was the center of the town's social life, serving food and drink, and it had a ballroom for dancing. Records show that Joseph Zorn, who lived in the grand concrete house called Sebastopol, had his wedding reception at the Magnolia, before he was elected Mayor in 1890 to serve for 20 years.

A rival, the Grand Central Hotel, opened about 1890 in a brick building. Then the Aumont in 1916, and the Plaza in 1917, began heavily advertising their "fire-proof" brick construction. The Magnolia lost its position as the town's premier lodging.

When the Great Depression and the Darst Creek Oil Field arrived in the county almost simultaneously in the 1930s, the property was bought by the Lannom family. They lived downstairs and operated with small apartments upstairs for another 65 years or so. In recent years, the Lannom heirs struggled to come up with a plan for the Magnolia. They decided to sell to the right buyer.

With the heirs' agreement, Preservation Texas listed the Magnolia Hotel among the state's "Most Endangered Places" in March, 2012. The resultant publicity attracted rescuers. The hotel is now being restored to serve as the home of new owners. Though much of the building remains a work in progress, two front rooms have been fully renovated. The ancient floors and woodwork gleam, transoms again swing above the doors. A porcelain sign found in the abandoned rooms now hangs over the front door again, reading, "Magnolia".

The owners of the Magnolia Hotel over the past 150 years:

• James Campbell
• Joseph F. Johnson
• Michael Erskine
• Jeremiah Calvert
• Dr William Reid, 1850
• Thomas Dickey Johnson, 1860 to 1900
• (various others)
• Hilmar Weinert, 1911
• Herman Herzog and Eddie Wahl, 1916
• C.H. Trott/Mattie Dalchau, 1925
• Sons of Hermann of San Antonio, 1932
• Edgar and Virginia Lannom, 1934
• Lannom Estate, 1994
• Erin O. Wallace and Jim Ghedi, 2013

References

Magnolia Hotel (Seguin)