Built in 1916 by Jesse Walter Gilmer (1883-1961), the two-story Gilmer Hotel was originally wooden, with an upper gallery on the east and south sides. It was frequented by traveling salesmen as well as local ranchers and other visitors. The dining room was popular with townspeople, and the kitchen provided meals for prisoners in the Edwards County Jail. The hotel sheltered influenza patients during a World War I epidemic and, later, victims of a 1927 tornado. The Gilmer family sold the hotel in 1918.