Nimitz Hotel

Born in Bremen in 1826, Charles Henry Nimitz joined the German merchant marine at fourteen, followed his family to South Carolina in 1844, where they ran a hotel in Charleston, and came to Fredericksburg with the first settlers in 1846. He married Sophie Dorothea Mueller in 1848; nine of their twelve children lived to adulthood. He served four months as a Texas Ranger in 1851, organized the Gillespie Rifles in the Civil War and became enrolling officer for John S. Ford's frontier district. A Catholic and a Democrat, he entered the legislature in 1890.

What the plaque says

Nimitz Hotel This property was purchased by Charles Henry Nimitz, Sr., in 1855. By 1860 the Nimitz Hotel was established, hosting frontier travelers and providing a home for the large Nimitz family. Expanded in the 1870s to feature a steamboat shaped facade, the hotel was a center for community activities. It was sold by the family in 1926 and underwent major alterations. In 1964 it became a museum honoring Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz and those who served with him in World War II. The steamboat facade was later rebuilt and remains a local landmark. (1989)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• National Museum of the Pacific War — steps away
  A museum of the war in the Pacific in Chester Nimitz's hometown, dedicated at his request to the two million who served with him, with a garden given by Japan.
• Vereins Kirche and Main Street — 0.4 mi
  The octagonal Society Church on Fredericksburg's market square, rebuilt in stone in the 1930s, beside a main street laid out like a Rhine village.
• Fort Martin Scott — 2.0 mi
  An army post of 1848 on Barons Creek beside the German town, where soldiers kept the peace of a Comanche trade and paid the merchants in hard cash.
• Luckenbach — 9.2 mi
  A store, saloon and dance hall on Grape Creek that a humorist bought in 1971, declared a free state of mind, and turned into a pilgrimage for Texas music.

More markers nearby

• Birthplace of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, USN — steps away
• Christian Methodist Episcopal Church — 0.3 mi
• Old Central Drugstore — 0.3 mi
• Market Square (Mark Platz) — 0.4 mi