Excelsior Hotel

Excelsior Hotel in Jefferson, Texas, occupies the north side of Austin Street between Market and Vale Streets. Its oldest section, a two-story frame wing in the Classical Revival style, dates from about 1858 and resembles mid-century roadside inns found elsewhere in the country. A two-story brick wing was added in 1872, and a cast-iron porch runs across the Austin Street front of both sections. The ground floor holds a lobby, museum, ballroom and dining room, while the upper floor has a central hall with guest rooms. A courtyard formed by the two wings was landscaped in 1954 with brick paving and a cast-iron fountain. The hotel began operating in the 1850s and has run continuously since, which makes it one of the oldest establishments of its kind still in business. Guests during Jefferson's prosperous years included Presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes, financiers Jay Gould and John Jacob Astor, and playwright Oscar Wilde. Texas designated it a historic landmark in 1966.