Kincaid Hotel

The ranchers who met in this lobby had built their herds from the half-wild cattle the Spaniards left behind. Uvalde cowboys such as Chris Kelly and Gideon Thompson of Utopia crossed them with Devon and Durham bulls to make cattle fit for the long drives. By 1900 the county had 58,925 cattle and 81,705 goats, and in 1903 a quarter of all the mohair produced in the United States came from Uvalde County. Herefords dominated by 1940, and in the early 1940s Roy Kothmann's auction house in Uvalde replaced San Antonio and Fort Worth as the county's cattle market.

What the plaque says

Kincaid Hotel This four-story hotel building was constructed in 1927 by the family of William Davis "Billy" Kincaid (b. 1854) in memory of his life as a prominent Uvalde cattleman, businessman, and civic leader. The Kincaid Hotel became a popular place for business meetings, banquets, and social gatherings. Ranchers and cattle traders made the Kincaid lobby their meeting place. The hotel has served such noted guests as Texas Governors, Congressional leaders, President Lyndon Johnson, and movie personalities, including Ronald Reagan, later President of the United States. 1981

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Uvalde Grand Opera House — steps away
  An 1891 Victorian opera house on the Uvalde square with a turret and a dragon weathervane, once owned by John Nance Garner and still staging volunteer theater upstairs.
• Briscoe-Garner Museum — 0.4 mi
  The Uvalde house of John Nance Garner, the vice president who made the office a power in Congress, now a free museum to him and to Governor Dolph Briscoe.
• Fort Inge Historical Site — 2.5 mi
  A county park on the Leona River below a 140-foot volcanic plug, where an army post guarded the new road to El Paso from 1849 to 1869 and Texas Rangers camped after.

More markers nearby

• Uvalde County — steps away
• Rice Hotel and Saddlery — steps away
• Fort Inge, Camp Dix, C.S.A. — steps away
• L. Schwartz Company — steps away