Evidence of Mary Menger's contributions to the brewing industry can be found in her business records

Tax receipts, brewing supply orders, promotional handbills, banking records, keg return lists, professional correspondence and more found in the Menger Hotel Papers (1855-1893) illustrate the link between two prominent nineteenth-century San Antonio businesses -- the Western Brewery and the Menger Hotel. Both businesses were founded by Mr. and Mrs. W.A. Menger in the 1850s. Mary Menger owned and operated them after her husband died in 1871 until she sold the brewery in 1878 and the hotel in 1881. 

Help us preserve Mrs. Menger's records with a gift to the Menger Hotel Papers Project

One of four variations of a handbill marketing the hotel with Mrs. W.A. Menger listed as proprietress. As a thirty-one-year-old homeless and unemployed immigrant, Mary Baumschlüeter Guenther Menger started with nothing but soon became one of the most important Texas businesswomen of the nineteenth century—a time when women in business were uncommon. Even scarcer are business and personal records documenting the life, work, and contributions of nineteenth-century women in business—important material for the education of future generations. Information found in old documents and photographs can change our understanding of the past and inform the future. The Briscoe Center for American History at UT Austin collects and preserves historical evidence so that discussions concerning American ideas, identities, origins, and values remain rooted in fact. 

The Menger Hotel Papers (1855-1893) offer a rare glimpse into the early operations of a major nineteenth-century business owned and operated by a woman on the Texas frontier -- and still in business to this day. 

Nearly 70% of the papers date to the time of Mary Menger's sole ownership (between 1871 and 1881) of the Western Brewery and  Menger Hotel. With so many different characters known to history interacting at the Menger Hotel, the Menger Hotel Papers (1855-1893) sheds light on both the Mengers' business practices and dozens of known stories -- with the potential to rewrite some of them. Many more may lay idly waiting to be discovered. 

You can help preserve this rare evidence of a nineteenth-century woman in business and the two influential San Antonio companies she helped build — Western Brewery, the first commercial brewery in Texas, and the renowned Menger Hotel. 

Wine Cards like this one were used at the Menger Hotel to take guest orders, with each card showing the name of the guest, what they ordered, the charge, and the initials of the person who approved the charge. Your contribution, in any amount, towards the $60,000 needed to preserve this significant addition to the Briscoe Center's Texas History Collections—the largest collection of material assembled about the Lone Star State—will help make this collection available for study. 

Complementing existing archives at the Briscoe Center, such as a selection of letters written by W.A. Menger dated 1861- 1863, the John Twohig Papers, the Bexar Archives, and the Stephen F. Austin Papers—public access to the Menger Hotel Papers (1855-1893) will offer students, scholars, and history enthusiasts important primary sources about nineteenth-century San Antonio and early Texas history. Please donate today.

About Mary Menger

Ledger that covers August 1872 to December 1874 and is written in German. The purpose of this 256 page ledger is unknown and begs for further research. Arriving in San Antonio in 1846, with no family and no job, Mary started a boarding house. In 1848, she married a local butcher who died a short time later. She continued to run the boarding house as a single female entrepreneur. Three years later, she married her handyman and boarder, W.A. Menger, who was also a cooper. In 1855 they built the first commercial brewery in Texas, the Western Brewery, hiring another German immigrant named Karl Degen as their brewmaster. Mary's first boarding house was closed and a new one was built on the Alamo Plaza using profits from beer sales. Opening in 1859, the Menger Hotel is the longest continuously operating hotel West of the Mississippi River.

When Mary’s husband died in 1871, he left his wife to raise their three children and operate the famed hotel and brewery at the heart of the San Antonio community. Mary’s business acumen and Degen’s brewing skills soon grew the Western Brewery into the largest commercial brewery in Texas before Mary sold it to Degen in 1878. As for the hotel, which served as a hub for society, a hospital, and a bank in early Texas, William and Mary created a modern first-class hotel experience offering gourmet cuisine, attractive furnishings, and an attentive hospitality staff. These premium accommodations significantly contributed to the commercial life of nineteenth-century Texas. In 1881, Mary sold the hotel to her contractor, John Hermann Kampmann.

About the Menger Hotel Papers (1855 – 1893)

Selection of commercial papers from the Menger Hotel Papers. The archive includes a trove of more than 250 different letterheads and billheads. The collection contains about 2,500 items, including correspondence, invoices, and other documents. It sheds light on various aspects of nineteenth-century Texas history, such as the hotel's daily operations, Texas' alcohol industry, and the social, cultural, and business life in early San Antonio, as well as Mary Menger's influence, William's death, and the hotel's final days under the Menger family ownership. The papers are also crucial for understanding Texas commerce in the mid-to-late nineteenth century, including during the Civil War, while highlighting the roles played by women, underrepresented groups, and recent immigrants to Texas. It is essential to preserve historical records like these and make them accessible to the public for educational purposes, research, and enjoyment.

The Briscoe Center needs your help to preserve the Menger Hotel Papers so that the evidence of the Mengers' contributions to Texas business history are preserved. Please give today.

Thank you!

1874 Circular from the IRS warning brewers in the San Antonio district to stop selling beer without the stamp applied.  

Receipt for 1875 subscription to the Brewer's Gazette.

1870 Money order from the San Antonio National Bank for $1,005 on behalf of Mr. W.A. Menger.

Ticket to attend the Firemen's Ball & Supper held at the Menger hotel. 

 

 

A prospectus describing the Menger Hotel Papers (1855-1893) in more detail is available by contacting Lisa Avra, Chief Development Officer, at l.avra@austin.utexas.edu.