Hotel El Capitan - Van Horn, TX
N 31° 02.381 W 104° 49.848
13R E 516146 N 3434011
A landmark along the OST, the Hotel El Capitan in Van Horn TX is still in business and welcoming travelers in 2016.
Waymark Code: WMV1EH
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 02/07/2017
Views: 3
The Hotel El Capitan is located on the I-10 business route/Old US 80/OST in downtown Van Horn.
The Hotel El Capitan was built in 1930 near the railroad depot. A cars began to supplant rail passenger traffic, the Hotel El Capitan was uniquely situated to pull in all the tourists, no matter how they arrived: On the Texas and Pacific Railway, or the Old Spanish Trail Auto Route.
The Hotel El Capitan building is an architectural Mission Revival jewel in an otherwise somewhat dusty and remote town, where most motels along the OST date from the 1950s and have a Googie flair.
From the Hotel El Capitan website: (
visit link)
"Welcome to the historic El Capitan! Located just 2 blocks off I-10, The Hotel El Capitan is THE destination in Van Horn! The hotel has 36 rooms and suites. Rooms vary from the more quiet smaller historic rooms that face the exterior of the building to the larger rooms with French doors that open out to the Courtyard. Our rooms have queen and king beds with pillow top mattresses and luxurious linens. The four most popular rooms have private patios overlooking the fountain and courtyard. We also have large two room suites and an ADA certified handicapped room. The total renovation in 2009 included a new elevator, electric, plumbing and heating and air conditioning.
We can’t wait to have you as our guest!"
From the Travel the OST website: (
visit link)
"The Old Spanish Trail traveler leaves downtown San Antonio by way of South Flores and Fredericksburg Road. But IH-10 completely subsumes the old road when it converges on the north side of town. All of the maps that are contemporary with the OST from 1926 until the establishment of the numbered transcontinental highways show the old highway going through Boerne, Comfort, Kerrville, Ingram, Segovia and Junction. Correspondence in the archives also shows that these towns were along the original route though U.S. 90 goes farther south down to Del Rio.
. . .
The white line shows the route of OST from San Antonio to El Paso. Note the break off at Boerne where the Southwest Trail heads north to Fredericksburg. South of OST the road that would later become U.S. 90 travels through Uvalde and Del Rio before rejoining OST east of Sierra Blanca at Van Horn, Texas. West of Van Horn, the old Bankhead Highway ends at OST. Harral Ayres, Director of the OST Association considered what is now U.S. 90 as the southern fork trunkline of OST."