Rogers Hotel

Named for Waxahachie founder Emory W. Rogers, who built his log cabin home on this site in 1847 and donated land for the Ellis County Courthouse in 1850, the Rogers Hotel stood on a site where Rogers built a two-story hotel in 1856, which was destroyed by fire in 1882, and where a second hotel built by The Waxahachie Real Estate & Bldg. Assoc. was also destroyed by fire in 1911. The present building was designed by architect C.D. Hill in 1912 and opened in early 1913 at a cost of approximately $100,000. It has twin four-story towers of reinforced concrete faced with dark mottled brick, trimmed with Bedford stone, and was claimed to be "Absolutely Fire Proof." The west tower roof was designed for a roof garden restaurant with a panoramic view of the city, the east tower roof for sleeping tents for open-air enthusiasts, and the basement for a billiard room, barber shop, and swimming pool supplied from a nearby hot well. Several major league baseball teams headquartered here for spring training, including the Detroit Tigers in 1916-17-18, the Cincinnati Reds in 1919, the Chicago White Sox in 1921, and the Buffalo Bisons in 1948-49.

Waxahachie, Texas · United States