Est. 1857 · National Register of Historic Places · King William Historic District · Alfred Giles Architecture · Louis Ogé — Texas Rancher and San Antonio Business Leader
The property at 209 Washington Street was first developed around 1857 by attorney Newton A. Mitchell and his wife Catherine Elder. On an 1873 pictorial map of San Antonio, it appears as a modest one-story structure in the developing King William neighborhood, which German immigrants were transforming into the city's most fashionable residential district.
Louis Ogé purchased the house in 1881. Ogé had arrived in Texas in 1845 as part of Henri Castro's Alsatian colonial settlement at Castroville, and established himself as a rancher before becoming a San Antonio business leader, alderman, and school board president. He commissioned Alfred Giles — one of San Antonio's leading architects, responsible for many of the city's Romanesque Revival public buildings — to completely redesign and expand the house. Giles added a third story, an expansive columned verandah, and a Palladian opening on the second floor, transforming it into a Charleston-influenced Neoclassical mansion that became one of the most prominent private residences in the King William District.
Louis Ogé died in 1915. His widow Elizabeth remained in the house until approximately 1942, when the property was sold to Lowry L. Mays and converted to rental apartments. The house subsequently passed through several owners, including Marshall Steves.
In 1991, Sharrie Magatagen purchased the property and began converting it to a bed and breakfast — a renovation that coincided with the first paranormal reports. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and operates today as part of Noble Inns, a collection of San Antonio King William District properties.
Sources
- https://www.sahouseregistry.com/houses/209-washington-st
- https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=118910
- https://ghostcitytours.com/san-antonio/haunted-places/king-william-district/
- https://www.nobleinns.com/oge.html
Apparition of Elizabeth Ogé in the kitchen areaHerbs and seasonings scattered with no physical causeShadow figures and unexplained reflectionsApparition of a young girl (associated with San Antonio River drowning)Male presence in the Mathis Room
The first paranormal experiences at the Oge House were reported not by guests but by the owner who was renovating the property. When Sharrie Magatagen purchased the house in 1991 and began restoration work, she noticed what she described as shadowy figures in her peripheral vision and reflections she could not account for, concentrated in the kitchen. She also experienced repeated instances of her collection of herbs and seasonings being scattered or moved when no draft or exhaust fan could explain the movement.
Magatagen later learned that the room now serving as the kitchen had originally been the bedroom of Elizabeth Ogé, the widow of Louis Ogé, who had lived in the house until her death there in 1942. The understanding that Mrs. Ogé had died in what was now the kitchen gave the kitchen disturbances a specific interpretive frame. Ghost City Tours documents reports of Mrs. Ogé's apparition — a woman in period dress — observed in the kitchen area, consistent with the room's original function.
A psychic consulted during the renovation identified two additional entities beyond Mrs. Ogé: a young girl, estimated around ten years old, associated with a drowning in the nearby San Antonio River; and a gentleman spirit whose activity concentrates in the Mathis Room. Guests staying in the Mathis Room have described run-ins with this presence over the years, though no historical identification for the male entity has been established.
The property's paranormal reputation is documented across multiple San Antonio ghost-tour operators and local coverage without significant embellishment or gore; the spirits described are characterized as curious or resident rather than threatening.
Notable Entities
Elizabeth Ogé (widow of Louis Ogé, died in what is now the kitchen)Young girl (unidentified, drowning association)Gentleman spirit (unidentified, Mathis Room)