Nacogdoches's community-built 1955 mid-century hotel, where staff and guests report a second-floor entity called 'Happy Jack' and an unnamed sixth-floor presence.
200 N Fredonia St, Nacogdoches, TX 75961
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Hotel room rates vary by season; lobby and restaurant open to non-guests.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Modern hotel with elevators; flat downtown site
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1955 · Community-financed hotel corporation (1,100+ shareholders) · International Style / New Orleans hybrid architecture · Mid-century anchor of downtown Nacogdoches · Recorded in SFASU Downtown Historic District Survey
In 1952, a group of Nacogdoches businessmen incorporated the Nacogdoches Community Hotel Corporation and began selling stock to residents in $100 increments. Over 1,100 citizens participated — a majority of the buyers described in contemporary accounts as small contributors — and the effort raised $500,000 toward a project designed by Dallas architect J. N. McCammon and built by the Houston firm W. S. Bellows Construction Company.
Groundbreaking took place in 1954. The six-story building opened April 1, 1955, to a crowd estimated at 6,000; press coverage reached Dallas and Houston newspapers. The design combined what McCammon called International Style modernism with New Orleans cast-iron gallery detailing on the semi-circular one-story wing that wraps around a central courtyard and swimming pool. It was described in a Houston newspaper at the time as looking 'as modern as an atomic submarine.'
The hotel achieved 95.6 percent occupancy by 1959 and booked 26 conventions in its inaugural year, earning it recognition as one of the most successful community-owned hotels in the country. A 30-unit Oak Terrace addition followed in 1960. Occupancy fell after 1965 as competing hotel inventory grew in Nacogdoches and nearby Lufkin. The property changed hands multiple times over the following decades before a $7.5 million renovation reopened it in May 1989. It continues to operate as a full-service hotel with dining and convention facilities in the heart of downtown Nacogdoches.
The building is recorded in the SFASU Center for Regional Heritage Research's Downtown Historic District survey and stands as one of the few large-scale community-stock hotel projects in Texas.
Sources
Paranormal accounts at the Fredonia cluster on two floors. The second floor is associated with an entity that hotel staff nicknamed 'Happy Jack' — described by owner Susan Pack Reents to KTRE-TV as friendly rather than threatening. Housekeeping staff across multiple floors have documented freshly made beds found disturbed after rooms were vacated and the sound of music playing from rooms confirmed to be empty.
The sixth floor carries a separate set of reports. Guests and staff describe an unnamed apparition and a sense of being watched in the corridors. The specific circumstances behind either presence have not been established in documentary records; the names appear to be staff-assigned labels rather than identities linked to documented deaths at the property.
In the period around the hotel's renovation and reopening, the Another Paranormal Society, a Tyler-based investigation team, conducted an overnight investigation using digital recorders, thermometers, flash photography, and electromagnetic frequency meters. The KTRE-TV news crew that accompanied them reported capturing unexplained readings and audio artifacts. The hotel subsequently hosted at least one paranormal convention, suggesting that the haunted reputation had become an acknowledged, if informal, part of the property's identity.
Notable Entities
Book a room at the Fredonia — the second floor is where staff report 'Happy Jack,' and the sixth floor is the other known hotspot. The hotel is an operating boutique property with a restaurant and bar.
The 1st City Café, Nine Flags Bar, and Republic Steakhouse are open to non-guests. The mid-century International Style lobby is worth a look on its own.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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