The Saint Anthony Hotel is a 10 floor building in Downtown San Antonio, Texas, USA. It was built in 1909.
The St. Anthony Hotel was opened in 1909 by three ambitious cattlemen – B.L. Naylor, F.M. Swearingen and A.H. Jones. The men believed that San Antonio was destined to become a vibrant tourist destination, and history soon proved them right.
It didn’t take long for visitors to discover St. Anthony. Not only was it the first luxury hotel in the city, but in the early days it was also the only inn with air-conditioning, a drive-up registration desk and sophisticated automatic doors and lights. In fact, St. Anthony was so technologically savvy that it was considered among the world’s most modern hotels.By 1915, the hotel charged guests $1.50 per night, and booming revenues allowed the owners to double capacity to 430 guestrooms.It was only a matter of time before American icons began visiting St. Anthony. Eleanor Roosevelt, President Eisenhower, General Douglas McArthur, Prince Ranier and Princess Grace of Monaco have all enjoyed drinks in The Hotels "Peacock Alley".The hotel has welcomed “Golden Era” Hollywood stars, such as Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Lucille Ball, Fred Astaire, Betty Hutton and Greer Garson. Personalities like John Wayne, Gregory Peck and Rock Hudson have also dined in our St. Anthony Club. The celebrity tradition still continues today with modern stars like Arnold Schwartzenegger, Maria Shriver, Patrick Swayze, George Clooney, Demi Moore, Bruce Willis and Matthew McConaughey. So many have chosen the luxurious getaway in the heart of San Antonio.
The Texas politician Robert L. Bobbitt lived in the St. Anthony for the last year of his life prior to his death in 1972.
In 2012, the hotel was selected to be the site for the "Arena Football University", an event where AFL teams can meet with vendors and league officials to discuss the upcoming season.
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St. Anthony Hotel, San Antonio, Texas (postcard, circa 1913)
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Grand Lobby and Peacock Alley, St. Anthony Hotel, San Antonio, Texas (postcard, circa 1913)
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left|Military dinner at St. Anthony, San Antonio, Texas (postcard, circa 1913)
Famous quotes containing the words saint, anthony and/or hotel:
“The worst of madmen is a saint run mad.”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
“I hope there will be no effort to put up a shaft or any monument of that sort in memory of me or of the other women who have given themselves to our work. The best kind of a memorial would be a school where girls could be taught everything useful that would help them to earn an honorable livelihood; where they could learn to do anything they were capable of, just as boys can. I would like to have lived to see such a school as that in every great city of the United States.”
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)
“Clean the spittoons.
The steam in hotel kitchens,
And the smoke in hotel lobbies,
And the slime in hotel spittoons:
Part of my life.”
—Langston Hughes (1902–1967)