Qualla: Menger Hotel https://qualla.com/menger-hotel en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:03 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/9/v/1/z/menger-hotel-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Menger Hotel https://qualla.com/menger-hotel Menger Hotel: Introduction https://qualla.com/menger-hotel/ Photo credit Riis2602, CC BY-SA 4.0. William Menger came to San Antonio from Germany in 1847 with one marketable skill: he knew how to make beer. He opened the Menger Brewery in 1855, right on the battlegrounds of the Alamo, and it was so popular that customers needed a place to sleep. In 1858, Menger hired architect John M. Fries and contractor J. H. Kampmann to build a two-story, 50-room hotel next door. It opened in February 1859, just as the Chisholm Trail was funneling cattle drovers and cattlemen through San Antonio, and the hotel lobby became the place where livestock deals were sealed with a handshake. A marker in the present-day courtyard still commemorates the Chisholm Trail. The Menger Hotel has survived a civil war, two world wars, the Great Depression, and a serious proposal to tear it down for a parking lot -- and it is still taking guests.

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Image: Riis2602 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/v/1/z/menger-hotel-wp/9v1z-menger-hotel-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Menger Hotel: Mary Menger Takes Charge https://qualla.com/menger-hotel/ Photo credit Nicolas Henderson from Coppell, Texas, CC BY 2.0. William Menger died in 1871, leaving his wife Mary and their son Louis William to run both the hotel and the brewery. Mary wasted no time. She placed an announcement in the local newspaper declaring that her husband's death 'would cause no change in affairs' at either business. S...

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Image: Nicolas Henderson from Coppell, Texas | CC BY 2.0

]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/v/1/z/menger-hotel-wp/9v1z-menger-hotel-mary-menger-takes-charge.mp3 0:06 2 full Menger Hotel: The Bar Modeled on the House of Lords https://qualla.com/menger-hotel/ Photo credit Nadia Eimandoust, CC BY-SA 4.0. Kampmann and his son Hermann transformed the Menger over the next decades. They added an east wing, relocated the kitchen, expanded the dining room to seat 160, and piped water to every room for private bathrooms -- a luxury almost no other hotel offered at the time. Hermann repo...

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Image: Nadia Eimandoust | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/v/1/z/menger-hotel-wp/9v1z-menger-hotel-the-bar-modeled-on-the-house-of-lords.mp3 0:06 3 full Menger Hotel: Rescued from the Wrecking Ball https://qualla.com/menger-hotel/ Photo credit Renelibrary, CC BY-SA 4.0. William Lewis Moody Jr. bought the Menger in 1943, and his National Hotel Corporation took possession on June 30, 1944. After the war ended, Moody launched a complete restoration. By 1948, new plumbing and electrical fixtures were installed, the Spanish patio gardens were restore...

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Image: Renelibrary | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/v/1/z/menger-hotel-wp/9v1z-menger-hotel-rescued-from-the-wrecking-ball.mp3 0:06 4 full Menger Hotel: Sleeping on Sacred Ground https://qualla.com/menger-hotel/ Photo credit Jonathan Cutrer from San Angelo, United States, CC BY 2.0. What makes the Menger unlike any other hotel in America is its address. It sits directly on the site of the Battle of the Alamo, in the Alamo Plaza Historic District alongside the Alamo Mission itself. The Crockett Hotel, built in 1909 and also owned by the Menger's parent compan...

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Image: Jonathan Cutrer from San Angelo, United States | CC BY 2.0

]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/v/1/z/menger-hotel-wp/9v1z-menger-hotel-sleeping-on-sacred-ground.mp3 0:06 5 full