Eleven Facts about the Menger Hotel

Located on Alamo Plaza, the Menger Hotel is rich with history. Originally opening the building as a brewery, William Menger soon saw the need for a first-class hotel in the Alamo City. Opening on February 2, 1859, the Menger Hotel gave San Antonio the first hotel classified as “first class” west of the Mississippi. The following are some unusual footnotes in the hotel’s history.

1

The Roosevelt Bar is an exact replica of the one in the House of Lords in London. The bar was once in the front of the hotel, then was moved to a newer part of the hotel on Crockett Street. The photos on the wall of the bar depict San Antonio in its early days.

2

The Roosevelt Bar is named for Teddy Roosevelt, who recruited his Rough Riders in the hotel bar and lobby. Officially known as the First U.S. Volunteer Calvary, the Rough Riders were organized in 1898 and trained in south San Antonio in the area now occupied by Roosevelt Park and Riverside Golf Course. In 1905 President Roosevelt and his men returned to San Antonio for a reunion at the Menger.

3

The hotel guest list includes presidents Teddy Roosevelt, Taft, McKinley, Lyndon Johnson, Reagan, Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon, Bush, and Clinton; film stars John Wayne, Joan Crawford, James Stewart, Robert Mitchum, Bob Hope, José Ferrer, Sarah Bernhardt, Steve McQueen, and Linda Evans; and army generals Houston, Sherman, Pershing, Grant, and Lee.

4

The Menger has served up many unusual foods, including turtles from the San Antonio River.

5

If you have ever seen Rock Hudson, James Dean, and Elizabeth Taylor in the film Giant, you may have noticed the large painting in Hudson’s den depicting a prairie scene. It was borrowed from the Menger and hangs on the second floor of the original building.

6

The hotel’s King Ranch Suite is named after the famous King Ranch. Captain Richard King died while staying at the Menger in 1885. The room has changed little since his death, with a four-poster canopy bed dominating the room. Another suite received its name from famous guests. The Roy Rogers Suite, decorated in rawhide and leather furnishings, hosted the famous cowboy and Dale Evans during their movie-making days.

7

Mysterious tunnels occupy the ground underneath the original part of the hotel. The walls are two to three feet thick, and the tunnels once served as cold storage for the old brewery. It is rumored that one of the tunnels leads to the Alamo and was used as an escape route during the historic siege. This, of course, is unfounded because the Menger was built twenty-three years after the fall. The truth is that one of the tunnels is part of the old Alamo Madre Ditch, an ancient acequia that once served the mission.

8

Stone for the original part of the hotel was taken from the rock quarry on the north side of town, which is now the Sunken Gardens.

9

Poet Sidney Lanier wrote about San Antonio while boarding at the Menger. Writer O. Henry often mentioned the Menger in his many pieces about the city.

10

At one time, alligators were kept on the Menger’s patio. The most famous was called Old Bill Menger, given to the hotel by a guest unable to pay his bill. Old Bill lived for fifty years and became quite a beloved fixture. He died in the 1930s when he got in a tussle with another patio gator.

11

In the 1940s the Menger had fallen on hard times and almost became a parking lot. It had lost much of its prestige and needed extensive repairs. Prospective buyers purchased an option on the downtown landmark in 1940 and announced that it would be razed. An outcry of support arose from across the country, and the option was dropped. The hotel was later purchased by W. L. Moody of Galveston, who restored the building.