Travelers coming to San Antonio along the OST would have many choices of places to stay on their trip, and the Menger Hotel, located just steps from the Alamo, would have been one of the most elegant hotels on the route.
The Menger Hotel is as historic as it is famous, and would have at least been a place for a hungry OST traveler to grab a good breakfast. The Menger is located in Alamo Plaza, on the OST in downtown San Antonio TX.
From the hotel website: (
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"GRACIOUS HOSPITALITY
SINCE 1859
Just nineteen years after the fall of the Alamo, in 1855, German businessman William Menger opened a brewery on the site of the battleground, thereby introducing beer to Texas. When he realized his guests needed a place to sleep, he and his wife, Mary, expanded into an elaborate two-story, 50-room hotel. Opening with much fanfare in 1859, decked out with wrought-iron balconies and a stained-glass-roofed Victorian lobby, the Menger Hotel was an overnight success, ushering in a new era of sophistication on the Texas frontier. A three-story addition was quickly added to meet the demand. Through the years the Menger Hotel has hosted some of the most prominent leaders in U.S. history, including a roster of U.S. Presidents and Texas titans of industry, commerce and politics. Exorbitant cattle sales and oil deals were sealed over handshakes and shots of rye at the bar. And it was at this same bar that Theodore Roosevelt recruited his famous Rough Riders cavalry brigade.
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black and white picture of men from history black and white photo of the exterior of the menger hotelblack and white photo of a group of people mingling in a bar black and white photo of a walkway black and white photo of a group of men lined up on a street with horses black and white photo of an outside seating areablack and white photo of people enjoying cocktails in a bar historic aerial photo of the battle of flowers black and white picture of men from history black and white photo of a renaissance style lounge roomblack and white picture of two men looking at a pictureblack and white picture of men from history black and white photo of the exterior of the menger hotel
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An east wing was built in 1881, including a cherry-wood bar modeled after the House of Lords Club taproom in London, and a 1909–1912 renovation by San Antonio architect Atlee B. Ayres added additional stories and rooms, along with ornamental flourishes to the lobby, in the prevailing neoclassical style. Another renovation in 1949–1950 brought a new wing, and in 1975 the hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Alamo Plaza Historic District. With another renovation in the 1980s, another in 1992, and another in 2016, the genteel hotel today boasts five stories and 316 rooms. Rare antique furniture, museum-quality paintings and historical artifacts enhance its present-day charms."
The OST travels through Bexar county on several roads, from East to west as follows: (Source: Bexar County GIS Map of the OST (
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From the Guadalupe-Bexar-County line:
Seguin Road to N New Braunfels Ave (east side of San Antonio)
N New Braunfels to E Houston Street (downtown SA and Alamo Plaza)
E Houston to N Flores St (heading NW out of downtown)
N Flores St - Fredericksburg Rd
Fredericksburg Rd - I-10 WB frontage roads
I-10 WB FRs - Boerne Stage Road
Boerne Stage road to Bexar-Kendall County line
For more on the OST in San Antonio see: (
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