History of Hotel Collegeport

By G. W. Franzen
 

The Hotel Collegeport  was erected in 1909 by  the Burton D. Hurd Land Company. The three-story hotel could accommodate one hundred guests and was situated on the north side of Central Street (now FM 1095) facing Tres-Palacios Bay and the Collegeport Pavillion. O. B. Kone was manager of the hotel. The grand opening of Collegeport was held at the hotel on May 25, 1909.

Many Collegeport social events were held at the hotel and most importantly, the hotel provided lodging for the numerous prospective landowners who visited Collegeport on Hurd's excursions from the mid-western states.

There was at least one other manager for the hotel as noted in this quote from the Collegeport New Era, October 14, 1914: “Mr. James Struthers, the landlord of Hotel Collegeport, advises us that the hotel will serve 'Special Sunday Dinners' hereafter at 1:30 p.m. He informs us also that this will be one of the special features of the hotel in the future.”

In the 1920s, Mrs. Clarence Doman purchased Hotel Collegeport and tore it down. The lumber was used to build her ranch house located on State Highway 35 near Markham.

Entry notes:

The information included here is from the only surviving ledger for the hotel. Transcribing was tedious due to the fact that most guests signed their own entries. Many of the signatures and residences were difficult and in some cases impossible to interpret. When there was a question about the spelling of a name or place, a question mark or _____ was inserted to let the reader know that it was the best guess.

The names listed in the register were for both meals and lodging. For example most of the entries for April 23, 1910 were for those who attended the Industrial League anniversary banquet. There are entries for guests from all over the country, but primarily from the Mid-West.

The Homecrofters - the Harry Clapp family always included this in their entry as it was the name used for their farming and dairy interest.

Jungle Town - another name for the Matagorda County community known as Pecan City or just Pecan.