DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Nicolett Hotel — and friend, this one's got some moving parts, literally. In late 1888 and into early 1889, two men connected to the large Ioa Ranch got to work out on the high prairie, just east of what's now the Lubbock Country Club. Frank E.
Wheelock was the manager of that outfit, and Rollie Burns was his employee, and together they built something that had no business being that grand in that empty stretch of West Texas — the Nicolett Hotel. Wheelock named it after the Nicolett Hotel in Minneapolis, a city where he'd briefly lived, studied, and worked. Now when a man names something after a place he used to know, he's carrying a piece of that place with him, way out onto the plains.
When the building was finished, it stood two and a half stories tall with eighteen rooms and a half-story attic lit and ventilated by dormer windows. There was a porch running across the entire front — perfect for guests, the marker says, and I believe it. You could see the thing from miles away.
Cowboys came. Salesmen came. Real estate agents, land promoters, town promoters — all of them making their way to the Nicolett for a meal, a meeting, or a night's sleep while they talked over whatever scheme they'd brought with them.
The original settlement of Lubbock formed around that hotel. Let that settle in for a moment. The city's beginning wasn't a courthouse or a bank — it was a hotel on the high prairie that folks could spot from a long ways off and couldn't help but ride toward.
Now here's where the story gets interesting. In February of 1891, Wheelock and Burns and their supporters decided the hotel needed to be somewhere else. Specifically, five miles south, on the square of the new Lubbock townsite.
So they moved it. They moved a two-and-a-half story, eighteen-room hotel five miles across the Texas prairie. They did leave behind the front porch and the balcony — even ambition has its limits — but the main structure made the journey and landed across the street from what would become the county courthouse, at what is now the southwest corner of Broadway and Buddy Holly Avenue.
The hotel kept on working. In 1909 it was remodeled and grew to more than forty rooms, with an additional building constructed right across the street to the east. It had outlasted the open range, outlasted the original settlement, and settled in as a proper part of a proper town.
But 1940 came around, and the building was sold and dismantled. Some of its materials were recycled to build a church community center a few blocks away. So in a way, the bones of the hotel that helped build Lubbock ended up helping build something else — which might be the most West Texas ending a story could have.
What the marker says
In late 1888 and early 1889, Frank E. Wheelock and Rollie Burns, manager and employee, respectively, of the large Ioa Ranch, built the Nicolett Hotel on a high prairie just east of the present Lubbock Country Club. Wheelock named the building after the Nicolett Hotel in Minneapolis, a city in which he briefly lived, studied and worked. When finished, the hotel was an impressive two-and-a-half story building with eighteen rooms and a half-story attic lighted and ventilated by dormer windows. The square plan featured a porch across the entire front, perfect for guests. The original settlement of Lubbock formed around the hotel, which could be seen from miles away and attracted many visitors. Cowboys, salesmen, real estate agents, land and town promoters and more came to the Nicolett Hotel for a meal, a meeting, or an overnight visit to discuss their projects. In February 1891, Wheelock, Burns and their supporters moved the large Nicolett Hotel, minus the front porch and balcony, five miles south to the square of the new Lubbock townsite. Its new location was across the street from the future county courthouse (present-day southwest corner of Broadway and Buddy Holly Ave.). The hotel was remodeled in 1909 and increased in size to more than 40 rooms with an additional building constructed across the street to the east. In 1940, the building was sold and dismantled, with some of its materials recycled to build a church community center a few blocks away. (2018)