Driskill
Hotel-Austin
Photos and article by Kathleen Walls
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A portrait of Col. Driskill graces the lobby |
It was in
the 1830s the first permanent white settlers established a village they named Waterloo at
the site of present day Austin. By 1839, it was chosen to be the capital of the Republic
of Texas. The city was renamed after Stephen F. Austin, "the father of Texas."
With the
arrival of the politicians, the town's population burgeoned to 856 people. When the
Republic became one of the United States, it clearly stated in two elections that it
wanted Austin to remain the capital of the new state.
When
a young high roller from Tennessee named Jesse Driskill came to Austin in 1869, the city
was on it way to being a metropolis. Driskill
had already made and lost one fortune during the Civil War. The young Irishman, who held
the honorary rank of Colonel, had furnished cattle to the Confederate Army and the Texas
Rangers. Unfortunately, he had been paid in Confederate money so by the end of the war, he
had no money and no cattle.
By
1884, he had rebuilt another fortune and decided to invest some of it in a luxurious hotel
to complement the new capital building being erected on the cities highest spot.
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The lounge area in the Driskill's bar |
But for
Driskill, fortunes were "Easy come. Easy go." When an early freeze in 1888,
killed off much of his herd, Driskill was forced to sell the hotel. It passed through
several hands until it came into possession of Major George W. Littlefield in 1895, who
proclaimed that "it would never close again."
Social,
political and entertainment big wigs all stayed at The Driskill. In October 1898, Austin's
first long-distance telephone call was placed from the lobby. Over the years The Driskill
has played host to almost every sitting president since it opened. Lyndon Johnson's
first date with Lady Bird was breakfast at The Driskill.
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Unique six shooter light fixtures in the bar |
Littlefield
was almost proven wrong in 1969 when the hotel was destined to be razed and a new modern
hotel to be constructed on the site. Fortunately, local citizens banned together and saved
this Texas treasure for posterity – and the ghosts that roam the building.
This is an excerpt from Hosts With Ghosts: Haunted
Historic Hotels in the Southeast.
If you would like to learn about the Driskill's ghosts, you can order an
autographed copy of the book here.
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