Menger Hotel
The
Menger Hotel, located in downtown
San Antonio,
Texas, was built in
1859 (23 years after the fall of the adjacent
Alamo). In
1898,
Teddy Roosevelt used the bar to recruit
Rough Riders which fought in
Cuba in the
Spanish-American War.
The Menger was San Antonio's most popular hotel in the 19th Century.
O. Henry,
Robert E. Lee,
Ulysses S. Grant,
Dwight D. Eisenhower,
Mae West,
Oscar Wilde and others were known to frequent the bar and hotel, which was periodically enlarged and remodelled to accommodate more guests.
In 1876, the first public demonstration of
barbed wire ever was held outside the Menger and orders taken afterwards inside. In
1907, the San Antonio section of the
National Council of Jewish Women was organized at the Menger.
*
Menger Hotel site*
Menger Hotel Ghost Stories*
San Antonio Visitors' Guide* Historic plaque (Menger Hotel) outside Menger Hotel, erected in 1976, viewed 14 November 2005
* Historic plaque (Barbed Wire Demonstration) outside Menger Hotel, erected in 2000, viewed 14 November 2005
* Historic plaque (San Antonio Section, National Council of Jewish Women) outside Menger Hotel, erected in 2000, viewed 14 November 2005
