By Darren Alsabrook, The Alliance Gazette
Texas After Dark – Saturday, October 31, 2026
The Menger Hotel has two kinds of guests in its story: the people whose visits can be traced through history, and the figures who appear in San Antonio's ghost lore. The first include Theodore Roosevelt. The second include a woman called Sallie White, said in local retellings to linger in the hallways. They do not belong in the same category of evidence.
Beside Alamo Plaza, the hotel's documented past is substantial enough without adding an apparition. This Halloween installment of Texas After Dark looks at what the records establish – and where the storytelling begins.
Before the legends
William and Maria "Mary" Clara Menger opened the hotel on January 31, 1859, according to the Texas State Historical Association. Both were German immigrants. Mary had operated a boardinghouse before the hotel took shape; William operated a brewery at the site. Their business combined lodging and hospitality with a growing city's appetite for a comfortable place to stay.
Architect John M. Fries is credited with the design of the original two-story, cut-stone building. John Hermann Kampmann oversaw construction. The Menger that later generations knew was not frozen at that first moment: additions and alterations changed it as San Antonio grew.
William died in 1871. Mary and their son William then managed the hotel. The railroad's arrival in San Antonio in 1877 helped connect the city with more travelers, and the hotel's reputation spread.
A president in the record
Roosevelt first visited the Menger in 1892, returned during the recruitment of the Rough Riders in 1898, and attended a banquet there in 1905, the TSHA account records. Those visits give the hotel a genuine connection to a nationally familiar name.
That connection also appears in its folklore. In a guest essay published by Visit San Antonio, podcast host BJ Ragone repeats a story that Roosevelt's ghost is sometimes seen at the Menger Bar, still recruiting. A documented visit in life does not verify a reported appearance after death. The two claims require different evidence.
The names in the hallways
Ragone's essay, originally published in 2023 and displayed with a September 13, 2024 date, also names Sallie White and Captain Richard King among the Menger's reputed spirits. It describes White as a figure said to roam the hallways.
These are attributed ghost stories, not encounters witnessed or independently verified by The Alliance Gazette. The tourism essay presents them as part of a haunted destination's appeal; it is a source for the existence of the lore, not proof of supernatural activity. This article does not treat a repeated tale, a familiar name or an old building as evidence that a haunting occurred.
There is another way to look into the hotel's past. On April 1, 1936, photographer Arthur W. Stewart recorded its west elevation for the Historic American Buildings Survey. That photograph, held by the Library of Congress and reproduced here, documents the building at a particular time. It is not a current view and does not illustrate a ghost encounter.
History without a haunting test
The Menger's later story includes renovations and preservation. In 1976 it became part of the Alamo Plaza Historic District's National Register listing, according to TSHA. The building's continuing significance does not depend on whether a visitor believes its legends.
Treat the hotel as a place of work and hospitality, not a stage set. Ask staff before exploring, respect guests' privacy and stay out of restricted areas. An old tourism article is not current permission to wander its corridors.
The historical record gives us builders, proprietors, travelers and a changing structure. The folklore gives us stories about who might have stayed behind. On Halloween, both can be discussed – provided the line between them remains visible.
Photograph and sources
Photograph: Menger Hotel, west elevation, San Antonio, April 1, 1936. Arthur W. Stewart, Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress, HABS TEX,15-SANT,10–1. U.S. government photograph; public domain in the United States; reproduced without content alteration. Historical view, not current.
History: Eleanor Stuck, Texas State Historical Association, "Menger Hotel."
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/menger-hotel
Attributed folklore only: BJ Ragone, guest essay for Visit San Antonio, "The Affordable Way to Explore San Antonio's Spooky Side This Season," displayed September 13, 2024; originally posted October 13, 2023.
https://www.visitsanantonio.com/blog/post/the-affordable-way-to-explore-san-antonios-spooky-side-this-season/
Primary photograph record and rights advisory:
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/tx0164.photos.154863p/
Photo file provenance (public-domain National Park Service work):
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Historic_American_Buildings_Survey,_Arthur_W._Stewart,_Photographer_April_1,_1936_WEST_ELEVATION_(FRONT)._-_Menger_Hotel,_Alamo_Plaza,_San_Antonio,_Bexar_County,_TX_HABS_TEX,15-SANT,10-1.tif
Sources checked October 31, 2026.
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