The Fabulous Hexagon Hotel in Mineral Wells
Traces of Texas reader Melinda Hall generously shared this incredible photo of the famed Hexagon Hotel in Mineral Wells and included the following comment:
“A friend of mine from the UK colorized this beautiful old thing after I shared it on my page. His name is Royston Leonard. There’s a whole group of them who know each other and they colorize history, mostly military. Royston picks some of my old photos, whether they’re my posts or shares, and he surprises me with something wonderful. This is stunning. Feel free to post it if you like. Royston would like that.”
The Hexagon Hotel in Mineral Wells was a hexagon-shaped hotel that was designed and built by David G. Galbraith and located on the 700 block of N. Oak St. Construction was started in 1895 and completed in 1897. The hotel was the first electrically lighted hotel in the city, and the hexagon shape was designed to achieve maximum air circulation 60 or so years before air conditioning became common.. Mr. Galbraith was the inventor of the paper clip and, along with five other men, invented the synthetic fiber acetate rayon. a synthetic filament, yarn, or fabric composed of a derivative of the acetic ester of cellulose.
Get Traces of Texas’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
The hotel was constructed of long-leaf yellow pine; the exterior was cypress siding and the roof was covered with hand-split cypress shingles. The interior was of “Heart of Pine” wood. All of the stone work was done by two English stone masons. The building was constructed with pegs and square nails. The four staircases started at the top and spiraled down through the five floors. The lobby floor was covered with hexagon-shaped tan, brown and blue tiles. The rooms were hexagon-shaped with a bath between every two rooms.
The hotel was torn down in 1959.
Thank you, Royston — — this is magnificent work. And thanks to you also, Melinda, for sending it in.
