HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
A San Angelo corner that burned three times between 1881 and 1925, including an 1902 fire that killed Rosa Landon and seven others in front of a helpless crowd — the six-story successor closed in 1983 for fire-code violations.
302 S Chadbourne St, San Angelo, TX 76903
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Exterior viewable from public sidewalk. Upper floors of the building are abandoned and not accessible to the public.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Flat downtown sidewalk
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1927 · Repeated Catastrophic Fires · Early San Angelo Hotel History · 1902 Mass Casualty Fire
The site at the corner of Chadbourne Street and Concho Avenue in San Angelo has been occupied by successive hotels since the 1880s. The first structure collapsed in fire in 1893 after a kitchen murder and arson. James C. and Rosa Landon purchased the property and built a new hotel — the Landon — which became one of San Angelo's premier lodgings for its first years of operation.
On the morning of August 11, 1902, a night clerk caused a kitchen stove to explode while preparing a late-night meal. Fire spread rapidly through the building. Eight lives were lost, including Rosa Landon herself, Mrs. Fowler and her grandson, Mrs. Frank Schlupinsky and two of her children, and B. Hendricks of Waco. Three additional victims could not be identified because the hotel register was destroyed. The fire consumed the building in front of a crowd of bystanders who were unable to intervene.
Subsequent construction on the same footprint eventually produced the six-story Naylor Hotel, built in the 1920s to 1930s. Over the decades it operated under multiple names including the Nimitz and the Town House. The building closed in 1983 when it failed municipal fire codes — an ending the city considered ironic given the site's history. As of recent accounts, the ground floor remains in commercial use while the upper five stories stand with broken and boarded windows.
Sources
The ghost reports associated with the Naylor/Landon Hotel site follow the fire death pattern closely. Multiple accounts from San Angelo residents describe a woman holding a baby visible through the building's windows or near the entrance. A separate report involves two children seen playing in one window who reappear in a window several floors higher within seconds — a detail consistent with the deaths of Mrs. Frank Schlupinsky and her two children from Houston in the 1902 fire. A third category of report involves cries audible from the building after dark.
The correspondence between the reported apparitions and the documented victims of the 1902 fire is notable. Rosa Landon herself, Mrs. Fowler with her grandson, Mrs. Schlupinsky with two children — the site's death toll included multiple women with young children, and the apparitions described by local residents map onto that profile directly. The building has been standing on this corner since the 1930s, and the upper floors have been abandoned since 1983.
Notable Entities
The six-story building at 302 S. Chadbourne at the corner of Concho Avenue has stood on a site with a documented history of fire and death since 1881. The ground floor remains in commercial use; upper floors are abandoned with boarded windows. The corner itself is the historical location — the Landon Hotel that burned here in 1902 stood on the same footprint.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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