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Early RepublicReconstruction & Gilded Age

Menger Hotel

San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Early San Antonio boarding house keeper, Wm. Menger in 1859 opened fine stone hotel, the "new" Menger, beside Alamo Plaza. To host Indians, presidents, poets, actors, generals, singers, public of the world. Served venison, quail, mutton, beef, soup made of San Antonio River turtles. Bar's vintages had ice imported by Gulf steamers and expressed to San Antonio in special wagons. Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders were recruited here.

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

When William Menger opened his fine stone hotel beside Alamo Plaza in 1859, he set a new standard of luxury for frontier San Antonio, serving venison, quail, and turtle soup to guests ranging from Indians and generals to presidents and poets. The bar even offered vintages cooled with ice hauled in by Gulf steamer and wagon. In 1898 Theodore Roosevelt recruited his Rough Riders for the Spanish-American War in these very rooms.

Why it matters

The Menger links frontier hospitality to a pivotal moment in American empire, standing where Roosevelt gathered the volunteers who would make him a national figure.

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Related people

  • · William Menger
  • · Theodore Roosevelt

Related events

  • · Recruitment of the Rough Riders

Themes & tags

Spanish-American WarLandmark

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Menger Hotel

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German-born William and Mary Menger opened a boarding house and brewery here in 1855, replacing it in 1859 with a stone hotel on Alamo Plaza that became San Antonio's finest. Cattlemen like Richard King lodged here during the great cattle drives, and guests ranged from Generals Grant, Lee, and Pershing to writers O. Henry and Sidney Lanier. In 1898 Theodore Roosevelt recruited his Rough Riders at the Menger for the Spanish-American War.

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On May 13, 1907, fifteen charter members organized the San Antonio Section of the National Council of Jewish Women in the Menger Hotel, electing Anna Hertzberg president. The council quickly launched social services—a night school teaching English to adult immigrants, literacy and public-health projects, a well-baby clinic in the 1930s, wartime day care, and the Lighthouse for the Blind. It continued adapting its programs to the city's needs for generations.

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