Ritchey Hotel, 1886
Alpine, Brewster County, Texas
Marker Inscription
1886 frame and adobe. Built facing old cattle loading pens on the Southern Pacific Railway. Lodgings and saloon for cowhands and ranchers in town to ship cattle from widely scattered ranches of the Big Bend country. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1965.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1886 of frame and adobe, the Ritchey Hotel rose beside the cattle-loading pens of the Southern Pacific Railway in the vast, remote Big Bend country. Here cowhands and ranchers who had driven stock in from scattered ranches could find a bed, a drink, and company while waiting to ship their cattle east by rail. It captures the moment when the railroad transformed West Texas ranching from an isolated frontier trade into part of a national market.
Why it matters
The hotel embodies how the railroad tied even the most far-flung corners of the American West into the cattle economy, turning trailside settlements like Alpine into shipping hubs.
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Related people
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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