Clark Hotel

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Van Horn, in the heart of Culberson County, there stands a building that's done just about everything a building can do short of getting up and walking off. We're talking about the Clark Hotel, and before it was a hotel, friend, it was practically the whole town.

It was the first permanent structure in Van Horn. Full stop. Everything that came before it was, apparently, less than permanent.

So when they put somethin' down to last, they went all in. The earliest portion went up in 1901, and right away it was pulling double duty as the city's original post office. The town had a heartbeat, and this building was it.

Then in 1905 and into 1906, a man named John Cox built out the main portion, and here's the part worth slowin' down for, those walls went up block by concrete block, every single one of them handmade by Cox's own crew, right there on site. They didn't order those blocks from somewhere else. They made them.

By hand. On the ground where the building was going to stand. That's not construction, that's conviction.

So now you've got this solid, handmade, concrete-block structure sittin' in Van Horn, and the town just kept piling its life inside it. There was a saloon in there. Offices.

All kinds of shops. And when the community needed a stage, literally, the building provided that too, hosting theatrical programs and school graduations. Picture a kid walking across that same floor where somebody'd been selling goods or pouring drinks, accepting a diploma.

That was this place. Then in 1911 and into 1912, Culberson County was newly organized, fresh and figuring itself out, and where did the county set up its courthouse? Right here.

Same building. The first permanent structure in Van Horn was now holding the machinery of a brand new county government. It carried that weight until a man named Fred Clark came along, and in 1918, he converted the whole thing into a hotel.

The saloon, the courtroom, the graduation stage, all of it gave way to the Clark Hotel. One building. One very long résumé.

And it's still standing out there in Van Horn to tell you so.

What the marker says

First permanent structure in Van Horn. Earliest portion (built 1901) housed original city post office. Main portion was built in 1905-06 by John Cox of concrete blocks handmade by crew on site. In 1911-12, when Culberson was newly organized, served as the county courthouse. Until 1918, when converted to hotel by Fred Clark, structure was site for theatrical programs and school graduations and housed a saloon, offices, and all kinds of shops. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1971