{"nrhp_refnum":"81000628","name":"Mobley Hotel","other_names":["The First Hilton Hotel"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"4th St. and Conrad Hilton Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cisco","county":"Eastland County","state":"TX","lat":32.391783745000055,"lon":-98.98120675799998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1981-05-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Transportation"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story solid brick hotel at 4th Street and Conrad Hilton Avenue in Cisco, Eastland County, Texas, built in 1916 by A.J. Olsen Construction for Henry Mobley, beside the Texas and Pacific Railroad.","why_significant":"It is significant as the first hotel owned by Conrad Hilton, who bought it in 1919 during the Ranger oil boom. Hilton tested ideas there, such as reducing wasted space, building staff morale and placing a shop in the lobby, that shaped his hotel chain and modern hotel management. The form argues it was the birthplace of the modern hospitality industry.","narrative":"Built in 1916 for Henry Mobley by A.J. Olsen Construction, this two-story brick hotel in Cisco, Texas, sits across from the railway station on the south side of the Texas and Pacific line. Its flat roof, stucco-over-brick parapet, belts and pedestal, and sash windows reflect the plain commercial style common in west central Texas. The hotel was built in two stages, and its cafe served rail passengers on short stopovers. During the Ranger oil boom Mobley expanded it from 40 to 120 rooms by renting beds in eight-hour shifts. In 1919 Conrad Hilton, then a young banker, bought it for $40,000 cash. He used it to test ideas about economical use of space, staff morale and lobby shops, which he later applied in his own hotels, starting with Dallas in 1924. Later it became a senior citizens home and apartments. In 1979 it was designated a memorial museum, and restoration was underway.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"A.J. Olsen Construction","architectural_style":"Vernacular commercial and institutional architecture of the southern frontier, typical of west central Texas","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as unoccupied, deteriorated and altered, with restoration work in progress to convert it into a museum of Conrad Hilton memorabilia.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:18.459217-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/25/9718/40971825/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/81000628.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/81000628/5200873348-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/81000628/5200873348-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Renelibrary","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mobley_Hotel_(1_of_1).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Renelibrary</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mobley_Hotel_(1_of_1).jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"84000334","name":"Cisco Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/texas/cisco-historic-district-84000334/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40971825","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobley_Hotel","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q107319319"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/eastland-county/mobley-hotel-81000628/"}