budyblog.info
The stately Driskill Hotel in downtown Austin stands as a monument to relentless ambition, fortunes won and lost and a century of determination to preserve the heritage of this, the weirdest of cities. It would be difficult to visit Austin and not see the phrase, 'Keep Austin Weird', although you might also see a jogger wearing a T-shirt proclaiming 'Keep Dallas Normal.' Balance is always good.
The hotel was built in 1885, by Jesse Lincoln Driskill, a cattleman who made a fortune supplying beef to the Confederate army, but was penniless at the end of the war due to being paid in confederate dollars. Unbeaten, Driskill built up his herd and built the hotel, which opened in 1886. In 1888 Driskill lost another fortune when 3,000 cattle died during an unexpected freeze. He owed money on the hotel and was forced to sell it. Within two years Driskill died, a broken man.