For the last several years while driving our son to Texas Tech, we have passed the signs and exit to stop an visit the first Hilton Hotel, Mobley Hotel. Today, we finally stopped. Our stop was after visiting hours, however viewing the front of the hotel tells the story and history.
The front of the two story hotel does not look like a typical hotel today, rather maybe a bank or office building. According to RoadsideAmerica.com (2016), they provide a wonderful description of the beginnings of this hotel.
“Eager travelers should know that they can no longer stay in the world’s first Hilton hotel. It was restored by the Hilton Foundation and turned into the Cisco, Texas, Chamber of Commerce office and community center. But two of its rooms have been preserved as they were in 1919, and a third serves as a small museum.
Legend has it that Conrad Hilton, who was in Cisco to buy a local bank, simply bought the Mobley Hotel when he couldn’t get a room in town. But the more likely story is that he bought it because he saw how much money it was making by renting its rooms to oil field workers in eight-hour shifts (Hotels, thankfully, do not follow that practice with families on vacation).
Hilton abandoned thoughts of a career in banking and instead began buying hotels — creating yet another tourist attraction in nearby Abilene, which is the home of the former Windsor Hotel, “the first hotel to bear Conrad Hilton’s name.””
The hotel is easily accessible from the I-20 freeway. The exit is 332. You will travel north for about 2 miles until you arrive in downtown Cisco, Texas. When arriving in downtown, take a left on Conrad Hilton Blvd. The hotel is on your right and at the corner of Conrad Hilton Blvd and 3rd street, 309 Conrad Hilton Blvd.
Hours of operation are Monday – Friday, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm. They highly recommend you call in advance to make sure there is not a deviation in times. The phone number 254-442-2537
Conrad Hilton’s root remain in Texas with many hotels, but also his foundation gave a grant to establish and grow the Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant at the University of Houston. It is one of the premier hospitality education programs.
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