The Nimitz Hotel - Fredericksburg Historic District - Fredericksburg, TX
Posted by: 
WalksfarTX
N 30° 16.311 W 098° 52.050
14R E 512744 N 3348916
It is now a museum honoring Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz and those who served with him in World War II.
Waymark Code: WMXDXY
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 12/31/2017
Views: 3
Texas Historic Site Atlas
While the earliest history of the Nimitz Hotel is difficult to unravel, it is known that Charles Henry Nimitz (1826-1911) acquired the land on which the hotel is located in 1855.
A modest structure initially, the Nimitz nonetheless is believed to have housed a number of celebrated 19th-century visitors to Fredericksburg. The earliest Sanborn Insurance Map of Fredericksburg (1885) shows the Nimitz as a two-story hotel with large theater hall and saloon attached (Nimitz was also a brewer).
By the time of the 1896 map, a much more ornate 2 l/2-story section had been added along with double galleries, creating a Steamboat Gothic appearance.
The Nimitz family continued to run the hotel until 1926, when it was sold to a group of investors who radically remodeled the structure into a more sedate, stuccoed hotel of the 1920s. That appearance remained until recent years, when the exterior was restored to its late Victorian appearance.
The Hotel is now operated by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department as the Admiral Nimitz Museum, honoring Fredericksburg's most famous native son. Fleet Admiral Chester William Nimitz, Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet during World War II and grandson of the early hotel proprietor.
While the hotel's exterior is largely reconstructed, the outstanding historical significance of the structure and the accuracy of the restoration work warrant a contributing status for the hotel in the present district.