Okay, so last time I had us in Marfa having, alas, a not very good dinner. After that, we went back to the AirB&B and after the usual chaos of getting the g’kids to bed, we had a pleasant chat with David and Emily, and then we were off to sleep ourselves.
The next morning, we were headed to yet another town, this one new to us. It was Alpine, Texas, which is just a tad over 25 miles (41 kilometers) to the east of Marfa. Emily knows the town (apparently her family used to shop there a lot, and I’ll explain why in a bit), and David has been to it several times as well.
It was a quick drive, and shortly we were parking on East Holland Street, in front of a cool little bookstore, Front Street Books (more about which later). We collected our forces, and began a stroll.
Now, some words about Alpine. Unlike Marfa, it is not a museum town. It does have a thriving art scene, but nothing like its neighbor to the west. Instead, it has a surprisingly vigorous economy, and is much, much bigger than Marfa.(1) Wikipedia notes that it has a population of about 6,035 (at least of 2020) and is the county seat of Brewster County, which is yet another of the beautiful but thinly populated counties of West Texas. According to Wikipedia, Brewster has a population of 9,546, meaning that nearly two thirds of the county lives in Alpine -- not as dramatic as Ozona, perhaps, but pretty remarkable just the same.
About the photos: Three today. First, not mine and not a scene from a John Ford movie but a real life photo from the Library of Congress’ collection. This is “Cowboys in beer parlor. Alpine, Texas” and is dated 1939. The LOC notes that the contributed was the photographer Russell Lee (1903-1986). You can see the original here: https://www.loc.gov/resource/fsa.8b21865/
Second, here’s a shot of the Sul Ross State University. You can see it is an impressive place. And, third, just ‘cause I like it, Martha at lunch in Austin in 2024.
But getting back to Alpine itself, I said it had a vigorous economy, and so it has. There are number of reasons for that. For one thing, it remains an important business center for local ranchers and farmers. For another, it has a number of institutions which bring money to the town, or which just keep it there. There is, for instance, a 25-bed hospital, the Big Bend Regional Medical Center.(3) (Never underestimate the power of health care as an economic driver.)
And it has a university, Sul Ross State University, which brings in money and, as important, young people.(4) The university also hosts the Museum of the Big Bend, which offers a number of exhibits of the region’s history and character.
Also, most importantly, the town is a significant tourist destination. It is, after all, only a hop, skip, and a jump away from the Big Bend area and its mountains, wildernesses, and hiking trails. So, if you’re going to visit those areas, then Alpine is an excellent place to book a room.
Oh, that reminds me, speaking of hotels, in Alpine you may find the old, the venerable, and the fabulous Holland Hotel...on, surprise, surprise...Holland Street. I’ve not seen the inside of it, but the exterior is amazing, and photos of the rooms on the Hotel’s website are quite appealing.(5)
Wanna guess who designed it? Yep, the same Henry Trost who did the Hotel Paisano in Marfa. Seems Mr. Trost was a busy boy in this part of Texas.
Anyway, we got out of our respective cars and went strolling. That was when I saw the Holland Hotel.
Then, it was back the way we’d come. We ended up going into Front Street Books, and it was an amazing place.(6) It had a remarkable collection of books (new and used) that interested us, our kids, and our g’kids. In fact, I sort of thought Hazel planned on moving into the the children’s books section more or less permanently. Not that I could have blamed her. And Miles was having a grand time rushing about.
We did end up buying books. I can’t remember what the kids bought. Architecture or art or local flora and fauna, or some combination of all those. I know Martha bought something, but I asked her what it was, she couldn’t remember. As for me, and as you’d expect from an amateur historian, it was a book I think I’ve mentioned here a few times before--_Texas, New Mexico, and the Compromise of 1850_ by Mark J. Stegmaier.(7)
It is really kind of an interesting story. The American Civil War almost happened sooner than it did, in 1850, to be precise. The US had just taken an enormous territory from Mexico in the Mexican-American War, and the North and the South were squabbling over who’d get what--which of the new territories would be slave states, and which would be free.
And what almost sparked a war was the fact that Texas claimed most of New Mexico, and was willing to use force to get it. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, and in the end the Union stayed together (albeit precariously) for another 11 years.
Anyway, finally, we all made our purchases and exited. We realized, then, that we were hungry.
So...after that...it would be...
Pad Thai and Saddlery stuff.
More to come.
PS: for reasons known only to itself, FB is not allowing me to post the footnotes in the original posting. So I’ll put them in a comment below.
Here's the footnotes that FB would allow me to include in the original post:
1. Alpine’s wikipedia page is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine,_Texas
In addition, there are a variety of other sources of information on Alpine on the web. The town’s official webpage is here: https://www.cityofalpine.com/. You can find visitor’s information here: https://visitalpinetx.com/. If you’re interested in business in Alpine, then check out the Alpine Business Alliance here: https://www.alpinetexasbusiness.com/
Or, if history is more your thing, then check out Historic Alpine: https://historicalpine.org/
2. Brewster County, Texas, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewster_County,_Texas
3. Big Bend Regional Medical Center, https://bigbendhealthcare.com/
4. See the Wikipedia entry on Sul Ross, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sul_Ross_State_University, and the school’s website, which is here: http://www.sulross.edu/
5. The Holland Hotel’s webpage is here: https://www.thehollandhoteltexas.com/. Be sure to check out the gallery page for interior photos: https://www.thehollandhoteltexas.com/gallery
The hotel also has a wikipedia page, here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holland_Hotel
6. Front Street Books, http://www.frontstreetbooks.com/
7. “Texas, New Mexico, and the Compromise of 1850, Boundary Dispute and Sectional Crisis,” by Mark J. Stegmaier, Published by: Texas Tech University Press, https://www.ttupress.org/9780896726970/texas-new-mexico-and-the-compromise-of-1850/
Copyright©2024 Michael Jay Tucker
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