“The Finest Hotel West of the Mississippi”
The MENGER HOTEL in San Antonio holds a rich history — and maybe a ghost or two.
For nearly 160 years, the Menger Hotel has stood as one of the best-known and oldest hotels in Texas. Once called the finest hotel west of the Mississippi, the Menger has grown from a two-story, 50-room limestone inn into a five-story hotel of 320 rooms and suites.
From the beginning, the Menger illustrated the results of hard-working immigrants who came to Texas, focused on community needs, and with exceptional elegance filled those needs. No wonder the Menger has hosted 13 presidents and many famous personalities, including Babe Ruth, Mae West, and generals Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant.
William Menger, not unlike many other German immigrants, answered invitations from the new Republic of Texas to come over and homestead in 1848. Menger, a talented cooper, brought his tools, ambition and skill to quickly prosper from building kegs and barrels, then later opening a small grocery store with another German immi-grant, Charles Degenard.
At the boardinghouse where he stayed, Menger found an equally industrious and ambitious German immigrant woman named Mary Guenther. She owned the boardinghouse and through her excellent cooking attracted many boarders and local townspeople. After a few years, despite the fact that the widow Mary was 11 years older than 24-year-old William, the couple married.
Menger purchased a small piece of property adjacent to the old Alamo mission, and then hired another fellow German immigrant, Charles Degen, as brewmaster to establish the first Texas commercial brewery in 1855. The success of the brewery brought the need for a small tavern, then a small rooming house to care for the patrons. By the end of 1856, Menger owned the entire street across from the Alamo and Alamo Plaza.
In 1858, Menger recognized the need for a fine, elegant hotel in San Antonio for visitors from surrounding areas. Menger hired John Fries as the architect and another German immigrant, J. H. Kampmann, as general contractor. The two-story limestone Menger Hotel was built for #15,712 and opened on Feb. 1, 1859, with 50 rooms. The new hotel’s success and constant occupancy required expansion with an additional 50 rooms added to the rear in less than nine months.
HISTORY AND MYSTERY Built 100 yards from the Alamo, the Menger Hotel is the oldest continually operating hotel west of the Mississippi.
The Menger continued to prosper even after William’s death in 1871. Mary, in fact, posted a notice in the San Antonio Express, “The death of the late owner and proprietor will cause no change in the affairs of the hotel as well as the brewery. Signed, Mrs. W. A. Menger, March 21, 1871.” As a widow and single mother of three, Mary continued to work hard for the next 10 years, handling whatever duties were required, from kitchen to the main office.
In 1881, Mary sold the Menger Hotel’s operations and property to the original contractor, Major J.H. Kampmann, for $110,000, plus an additional $8,500 for hotel furnish-ings, including many items that she and William had purchased during trips to Germany, Paris and New York. One of the grandest of their personal family furnishings, the square grand piano, was retained but has now been returned to the Victorian lobby on permanent loan from family member Posie Menger McClung.
Almost immediately after purchase, Major Kampmann started plans for extensive modifications to the hotel, adding an east wing, a third story, and another lobby, and expanding the dining room, relocating the kitchen. However, soon after the remodeling began, the major turned over the operations to his son, Hermann D. Kampmann. Hermann continued the improvements to the Menger, such as a steam elevator, laundry and electric light, but perhaps the greatest addition started by sending an architect to London in 1887.
After studying and sketching the famous pub at the House of Lords in London, the Menger Bar was designed, and construction started in 1887. The Menger Bar opened in 1890. The bar was much larger than the present Menger Bar, built to match the elegance of the hotel and exceeding that of surrounding barrooms. The original location of the Menger Tavern is unknown, but over the years, the Menger Bar migrated to the current location following the hotel addition and restoration in 1948.
Of the many famous visitors to the bar, Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt ranks the highest. The numerous photographs and other memorabilia throughout the bar back up the significance of Roosevelt among an impressive list of patrons.
According to the Menger Hotel register, Roosevelt first arrived in 1892, drawn to San Antonio by his hunting inter-est. Roosevelt hunted javelinas during his original visit, but returning in 1898, Lt. Col. Roosevelt came to the Menger with a different goal: to meet up with Colonel Leonard Wood and rectif men to the rolenter carly fement, The Rough Riders were a diverse blend of 1,250 young men, from drifters to Ivy League athletes, Native Americans to Texas Rangers. In 1905, as president, Roosevelt returned once again to the Menger for a reunion of the Rough Riders.
ELEGANCE Oval-shaped, three-storied main portion of the original Victorian lobby. The hotel was originally two story until a third story was added during the 1909 remodeling.
The Menger Bar has rich history dating back to the original tavern that led to building the Menger Hotel. The elegant bar back was relocated to different sites around the property, even disappearing during Prohibition, but was stored and never forgotten. The bar is accessible today from the Crockett Street entrance or through the lobby corridor.
In 1899, shortly before his death, Kampmann initiated another 50-room addition. More improvements with a French flavor continued under the Kampmann family to stay competitive with the new Crockett and Gunter Hotels. A marble floor in the 1881 lobby, a French façade, and ornate cast iron columns were added by 1912.
Following World War I, the hotel condition began to decline, especially following the 1929 stock market crash and Great Depression, reaching a low point by the start of World War 11, when plans were drawn up to tear down the hotel for parking. Heartbroken lovers of Texas history and tradition with a heart for the majestic hotel campaigned to save it and helped rescue it from destruction.
Citizens in 1943 saved the grand old hotel from the wrecking crew, and the following year the National Hotel Corporation, founded by Galveston’s W. L. Moody Jr., purchased it and began restoration. When Moody’s efforts were complete in 1948, only Menger’s original 1859 structure had been retained — it still stands today – though other improvements were soon added.
Other significant additions consisted of a swimming pool in 1953, and another five-story addition of 110 rooms in 1968 for the World’s Fair. Finally, 33 more rooms, grand ballrooms and meeting rooms were added to the rear of the hotel facing the Rivercenter Mall in 1987.
19TH-CENTURY AURA The Menger colonnade today and from an earlier time.
Perhaps one of the hotel’s most enduring features began with Mary Guenther Menger’s excellent cooking: Mary spared no expense to secure the highest-quality ingredients to create the finest meals. William and Mary started out with a wide selection of exotic and unusual treats. William even raised many of the animals and other produce.
Over the years, many menu items have gone away and been replaced by new ones, such as one of the greatest desserts, the mango ice cream. A signature photo hangs on the wall of Bill Clinton describing his experience with the dessert dish: “Mango ice cream at the Menger Hotel is one of the great treasures in American life.” When Clinton was elected president, the hotel shipped 40 gallons of the dessert to Washington for his 1993 inaugural celebration. Today, executive chefs at the Menger continue to uphold the excellent quality carried throughout the hotel’s long history.
Throughout the hotel, antiques and artwork decorate the walls and floors, many dating back to William and Mary’s original buying trips of to Germany and Paris. One stunning piece of artwork is the gorgeous leaded glass skylight installed as part of the third-story addition to the Victorian Lobby. Many antique furniture pieces and paintings have personal connections to the Menger family.
Left A Victorian walnut settee, circa 1870 Right Victorian painting titled Musicians in a Wine Cellar by Louis O. Kunz. Embracing its history as well as its “hauntings,” the Menger, a member of the Historic Hotels of America, offers a ghost tour package as well as an “I love history” suite.
Although there are no longer resident guests living in the hotel except the manager, one of the most celebrated former guests, cattle baron Capt. Richard King of South Texas, still visits the Menger. The ghost of King reportedly haunts the second-floor King Ranch Suite. The gravely ill Capatin King, always fond of the Menger, checked into his favorite suite upon making the trip to San Antonio to see his doctor. He died in that room on April, 14, 1885, and his funeral was held in the hotel’s Victorian Parlor. “People who have stayed here have been from all walks of life, including our non-living guests,” Ernesto Malacara, the Mengers director of public relations, told the San Antonio Express-News. Don’t miss the opportunity to take a ghost tour and possibly see other ghosts that helped the Menger earn the title “Most Haunted Hotel in Texas.”
Walking around the Menger, you can read plaques and awards related to its rich history. The Menger is registered as a Texas State and San Antonio Landmark, listed in the National Register of Historic Places and even designated as a Literary Landmark, for its connections with such figures as O. Henry and Oscar Wilde. As you walk around the hotel, you stroll through or relax in areas once visited by U.S. Presidents, military and literary greats, cattle barons and ranchers, famous entertainment celebrities and artists.
With true sweat equity from humble, hardworking immigrants who came to Texas, the Menger Hotel stands as a testament to their tremendous contributions. From a small brewery, tavern and boardinghouse to the finest, most elegant hotel west of the Mississippi, the Menger continues to shine in Alamo Plaza. “The Menger is one of the three jewels in Alamo Plaza, along with the Alamo and the gazebo,” says Malacara, the hotel’s number-one ambassador. “It’s here to stay. It’s been here many years, and it’s going to be here many more years.”
