HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
+ 4 further entries on record
1909 San Antonio Luxury Landmark on Travis Park
300 East Travis Street, San Antonio, TX 78205
Research updated September 2026
Age
Minimum age to check in: 21. The reviewed body does not state a minimum age for an accompanied guest.
Cost
$$$$
Standard rooms vary by season; lobby, Peacock Alley, and the historic Anacacho Ballroom area are accessible during normal hotel hours.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved urban sidewalk and indoor flooring
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1909 · National Register of Historic Places (1986) · First hotel in the world with central air-conditioning · Travis Park / downtown San Antonio anchor
The St. Anthony Hotel opened in 1909 at the corner of Travis and Jefferson Streets in downtown San Antonio, fronting Travis Park. The hotel was financed by Texas cattle ranchers A. H. Jones and B. L. Naylor, and it was designed from the outset as a luxury property to draw wealthy tourists to a city that was then expanding rapidly with the agricultural and military trade.
The original building offered amenities considered exceptional for the period: private bathrooms in each guestroom, illuminated closets, and bedroom lighting that turned off automatically when the door closed. The property is widely credited as the first hotel in the world to install central air-conditioning. A 1936 expansion and renovation by Texas oilman R. W. Morrison added the rooftop Anacacho Ballroom and roughly doubled the room count.
The hotel's guest list spans nearly the full twentieth century. Documented presidential guests include Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Lyndon B. Johnson; film-era guests have included Fred Astaire, John Wayne, Clara Bow, and Gary Cooper, with more recent registrations including George Clooney and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The St. Anthony was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 and later underwent a major restoration that returned much of the 1909 detailing to public view.
The property currently operates as The St. Anthony, a Luxury Collection Hotel under Marriott management, and remains one of San Antonio's central luxury and event venues.
Sources
The St. Anthony has accumulated more than a century of staff and guest stories. The most-reported figure is a woman in a long dress observed on the third floor — the Shadowlands entry refers to her as 'Anita' and describes her as a hotel employee, though no name has been confirmed in published sourcing.
The rooftop Anacacho Ballroom on the tenth floor draws a separate set of accounts. Guests have reported the figures of a couple in early-twentieth-century formalwear observed during late-night quiet hours, with stories that one or both were guests in the 1930s or 1940s who returned to the hotel year after year for an anniversary. A 'sad young woman' has also been reported in the ballroom area.
Additional phenomena reported across the property include elevator doors that open on the wrong floor, lights cycling in unoccupied rooms, and footsteps in corridors during the small hours. The hotel does not actively market its ghost reputation but cooperates with the local ghost-tour community, and the St. Anthony appears regularly in regional 'most haunted hotels' coverage in Texas Monthly and KSAT reporting.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
The St. Anthony operates as a Luxury Collection hotel within the Marriott portfolio. Guests can explore the restored 1909 lobby, the Peacock Alley corridor, and the rooftop Anacacho Ballroom. The third and tenth floors carry long-running ghost stories.
The hotel lobby is open to the public during regular hours; visitors are welcome to view the restored 1909 marble columns, the Steinway piano, and Travis Park across the street. San Antonio ghost-tour operators include the St. Anthony as a stop on downtown evening walks.
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This San Antonio tour includes The St. Anthony Hotel on its route.
This San Antonio tour includes The St. Anthony Hotel on its route.
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Colonel Jesse Lincoln Driskill, a Tennessee-born cattle baron who supplied beef to the Confederate Army and later the Texas Rangers, opened The Driskill Hotel on December 20, 1886. Its first event, two weeks after opening, was the inaugural ball for Texas Governor Sul Ross. Driskill sold the hotel in 1888 after severe drought devastated his cattle herds and died in 1890. The hotel has hosted every Texas governor's inaugural ball since 1887.
Galveston, TX
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Fort Worth, TX
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