On this day in Texas history, in 1859, William and Maria Clara Menger opened their hotel, not a landmark, on Alamo Plaza in San Antonio. In partnership with Charles Philip Degen, William also operated a brewery on the site. The hotel is one of the best-known lodging houses in Texas. It guests have included O. Henry (William Sydney Porter), Ulysses S. Grant, and Theodore Roosevelt—and yours truly. The building is on the National Register of Historical Places.