DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Fort Worth Hotel — so let's take it from the top. Picture the northwest corner of the public square in Fort Worth. Stage coaches rolling in, dust rising, travelers stepping down stiff-legged after a long haul across North Texas.
That corner was the first thing many of them saw, and for over seventy years, it held a building that changed its name more times than a wanted man crossing county lines. It all started in 1855, when Ephraim M. Daggett — early settler, and the man history would come to call the Father of Fort Worth — bought two empty lots on the fort grounds and put up a two-story building.
He meant it to be his home and a tavern for the public. Both at once. That right there tells you something about how Fort Worth operated in those days.
Two years later, in 1857, a man named Lawrence G.A. Steel purchased the property. Steel renamed the business the Fort Worth Hotel — though most folks just called it Steel's Tavern.
He expanded it into the opposite lot, and here's where it gets interesting: among the features Steel added was a bell. Not just any bell. A bell cast in 1782 — that's before Texas was Texas, before the United States was much of anything — mounted right there on the hotel, rung out to announce arrivals, fires, and social gatherings.
One bell doing the work of a newspaper, a telegraph, and a town crier all at once. In 1859, Albert T. Andrews purchased the property and ran the business until his death in 1867.
Then came the 1870s, and with them a new name: the Transcontinental Hotel. The advertisements were not shy about it. They called it, and I am quoting directly here, The Best Hotel in Northern Texas.
Bold claim. Whether Northern Texas agreed is a matter lost to time. By 1879, the stage coach terminal had moved down the road to the El Paso Hotel, and the old place rebranded again — this time as the Lindell Hotel.
And it was around this period that a certain well-known gunfighter named Luke Short took up residence in one of its rooms. Luke Short, boarding at the Lindell. You just let that image settle for a moment.
But the 1890s were not kind. By the early part of that decade, newer and larger hotels had opened in Fort Worth, and business began to decrease. The original buildings were demolished — first in 1892, then again in 1925.
Over seventy years of arrivals, fires, renamed signs, and stage coach dust, and in the end, what survived were the trees. The grand live oak trees still standing on that site are, as the marker puts it, the only remaining remnant of the original site — a reminder of early Fort Worth history. Everything else changed hands, changed names, came down.
The oaks stayed. In Texas, sometimes the trees outlast everybody.
What the marker says
Situated in the northwest corner of the public square, the Fort Worth Hotel was the stage coach terminal for travelers arriving at and leaving Fort Worth. The original structure remained on this site for over 70 years. Over its lifetime, the hotel had several additions and was known under different names. Early settler and "Father of Fort Worth" Ephraim M. Daggett bought two empty lots on the fort grounds in 1855 and erected a two-story building to serve as his home and a tavern for the public. In 1857, Lawrence G.A. Steel purchased the property and renamed the business the Fort Worth Hotel, commonly known as Steel's Tavern. It was expanded into the opposite lot and featured unique items including a 1782 bell mounted to the hotel used to announce arrivals, fires and social activities. In 1859, Albert T. Andrews purchased the property and operated the business until his death in 1867. In the 1870s, the hotel was renamed the Transcontinental Hotel, advertised as "The Best Hotel in Northern Texas." By 1879, the stage coach terminal moved to the El Paso Hotel, and the hotel operated as the Lindell Hotel. It was around this time that well-known gunfighter Luke Short boarded in one of the rooms. By the early 1890s, newer and larger hotels opened in Fort Worth and business began to decrease. The original buildings were demolished in 1892 and in 1925. The grand live oak trees are the only remaining remnant of the original site, a reminder of early Fort Worth history. (2017)