DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passin' it along — here's the story of the Site of Old St. Anthony Hotel in Brenham, Washington County. Now, if a building could hold a hundred and twenty-two years of hospitality inside its walls, you'd want to know what those walls started out as.
And the answer is humbling in the best possible way — a two-story log stage depot. That's right. Logs.
Rough-hewn and practical, the way everything in early Texas tended to be. Adjoining it was a log cabin complex that went by the name of the Washington County Hotel. Simple enough.
Functional enough. But already, right from the beginning, this place was in the business of welcoming people. Owners came and went through the years — changed hands more than once, the marker says, without making much fuss about the details.
And somewhere in the middle of all that churning history, a man passed through who had a way of making any room feel significant. General Sam Houston himself once stayed here — and he wasn't just passing through idle. He was campaigning against secession.
Think about that. This log stage depot on the Washington County soil was a stop on one of the most consequential political journeys in Texas history. Time kept moving, and in 1914 a new owner arrived — Mrs.
A. A. Hacker.
She looked at what was there and saw what it could become. She renamed it the St. Anthony Hotel and set about doing extensive remodeling.
The old log bones of the place gave way to something with a good deal more polish. The hotel didn't just shelter weary travelers — it worked hard. It served as a transfer station for train passengers and as a bus terminal.
Brenham was moving through the modern age, and the St. Anthony was right there in the middle of the flow. But here's what the marker wants you to remember most about Mrs.
Hacker's tenure. For more than thirty years, her hotel was noted for its hospitality. And every single Christmas Day, she threw open those doors for an annual open house and egg nog party.
Year after year. More than thirty of them. In a world that doesn't always slow down long enough to be generous, that's a tradition worth holding onto.
A hundred and twenty-two years of welcome, from a log stage depot all the way to Christmas egg nog — and somewhere in between, Sam Houston making his case. That's not just a hotel. That's Brenham.
What the marker says
Center of Brenham hospitality for 122 years. Originally a two-story log stage depot adjoined by a log cabin complex called the Washington County Hotel. Changed owners several times through the years. General Sam Houston once stayed here while campaigning against secession. Renamed St. Anthony Hotel 1914, by new owner Mrs. A. A. Hacker, who did extensive remodeling. Served as a transfer station for train passengers and as a bus terminal. Her hotel was noted for more than 30 years for its hospitality and annual Christmas Day open house and egg nog party.