Hotel Blessing is a historic

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

located in

Blessing, Texas Blessing is a census-designated place (CDP) in Matagorda County, Texas, United States. The population was 856 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Blessing got its start when the railroad finally was extended to that point, and first se ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The hotel was designed by

Jules Leffland Julius Carl "Jules" Leffland (September 9, 1854 – October 21, 1924) was a Danish-born architect known for his work in Victoria, Texas, and throughout South Texas. He was active in South Texas from approximately 1886 until the 1910s. Many of h ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. The hotel has been a community gathering place since it opened in 1907Carmack, Liz
''Historic Hotels of Texas''
, Texas A&M University Press: College Station, Texas, 2007. pp 44-46. The building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on February 1, 1979. Hotel Blessing was built by Jonathan Edwards Pierce, Blessing's founder. It was designed in an unusual expression of the

Mission Revival The Mission Revival style was part of an architectural movement, beginning in the late 19th century, for the revival and reinterpretation of American colonial styles. Mission Revival drew inspiration from the late 18th and early 19th century ...

style using an entirely wood facade instead of

adobe Adobe (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is use ...

plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...

over

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

."Hotel Blessing" ''Texas Historic Sites Atlas''.
Retrieved Dec 27, 2008. Pierce built the hotel to provide lodging for land seekers settling the region and traveling salesmen. The hotel was refinished and painted in the 1930s. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, wives and girlfriends of soldiers at

Camp Hulen Camp Hulen was a military training camp near Palacios, Texas, United States that operated from 1925 until 1946 and, at one time, supported the largest concentration of troops for field training in the United States military. Camp Palacios was est ...

in Palacios would frequent the inn. Since World War II, the camp closed and

freight train A freight train, also called a goods train or cargo train, is a railway train that is used to carry cargo, as opposed to passengers. Freight trains are made up of one or more locomotives which provide propulsion, along with one or more railroad ...

service stopped. The hotel stopped renting rooms in 1972. In 1977, Able Pierce, Jonathan Pierce's grandson, and his wife Ruth renovated and reopened the hotel. The hotel was deeded to the Blessing Historical Society, which currently operates the hotel. The hotel has 25 rooms, most which have a semiprivate

bathroom A bathroom is a room in which people wash their bodies or parts thereof. It can contain one or more of the following plumbing fixtures: a shower, a bathtub, a bidet, and a sink (also known as a wash basin in the United Kingdom). A toilet is al ...

or share a bathroom in a hall. The hotel also has a popular coffee shop, where locals gather to discuss community events.

References

External links

"The Hotel Blessing Coffee Shop" ''TexasBob.com''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blessing Hotel Blessing Hotel Blessing Hotels established in 1907 Hotel buildings completed in 1907 Mission Revival architecture in Texas National Register of Historic Places in Matagorda County, Texas Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks 1907 establishments in Texas

See also

References

External links