As we continue our journey through west Texas, we stopped in another small town, this one flanked by the Davis Mountains and the Glass Mountains. Alpine.
Alpine is the county seat of Brewster County and the home to Sul Ross State University. In 1878, this area was cattle country and cattlemen would camp out in tents with their herds.
Then in 1882, railroad workers were camping out in tents with their families. The community at that time was called Osborne because that was the section of the railroad line they were building. A father and son named Daniel and Thomas Murphy owned the land on which there were springs. The railroad needed a water source so they entered into an agreement with the Murphys and changed the name of the settlement to Murphyville. At the time, Murphyville was in Presidio County. It wasn't until 1887 that Brewster County was carved from Presidio County.
In 1888, Murphyville became Alpine, which then became the county seat. The courthouse was built in 1887 and served Buchel and Foley counties as well until they were folded into Brewster County.
This is the old Brewster County Jail built in 1888. It sits behind the courthouse. It ceased to be a jail in 1995 when the new jail was built. Now it houses offices for the Brewster County Sheriff.
The Ritchey Hotel was built in 1882 as a place for the cowhands and ranchers to stay when they were in town to ship their cattle. The hotel faces the cattle loading pens for the Southern Pacific Railway. Now it houses a bar.
The Holland Hotel was built in 1912 by John Holland, a prominent Cattleman. There was a lot of mercury mining in the Big Bend area at that time and he felt that the miners needed someplace to stay. He contracted Henry Trost (designer of the Gage Hotel in Marathon).
We stayed at this historic hotel, which had supposedly been renovated in 2024. It was a huge disappointment. It had not been renovated that we could tell. The rooms were very small and the cost very high for what it was. This was our room. The sink was outside the bathroom and there was barely room between the bed and that dresser.
The Alpine train depot is directly across the street from the Holland Hotel. It's an active train station for the Amtrak. We heard the trains go through town and proudly honk their horn at 3 am.
Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church. In 1896, the land was deeded to the Catholic Church by Thomas and Daniel Murphy. The original church was and adobe building built in 1902. It was ministered by traveling priests. The present building was built in 1943.
Sul Ross State University, named for Lawrence Sullivan Ross, was created in 1920 as Sul Ross Normal College. The purpose of the school was to train teachers. It now offers a variety of bachelor and master degree plans. The University has about 2,500 students that attend.
This was the highlight of our stay in Alpine. The Museum of the Big Bend. It's located on the campus of Sul Ross State University and has been there since 1925! It tells the story of the area in the Big Bend region. Did you know that Big Bend National Park got is name because of the big bend in the Rio Grande
There are exhibits and story boards that give you the history of the area. This particular exhibit has to do with the test case of the Army using camels in the desert to move things instead of mules. It was actually a successful venture but the Civil War interrupted the testing and I guess they just forgot about it. The camels used in the testing were eventually sold to ranchers or the traveling circus.
This is a giant wheel bicycle that was ridden by F. P. Ingersoll. In 1892, he rode this bike from Sycamore, Ohio to Midland, Texas! He was a carpenter and, to fund the trip, he would stop along the way and do carpentry work. The sign didn't say how long the trip took but I can't imagine this was a fun adventure. He stayed in Midland for a year before he rode on to Pecos, Texas where he married and became a school teacher.
This is the chuck wagon. Texas Cattleman Charles Goodnight, called Chuck, invented the mobile kitchen for cattle drives. The chuck wagon would carry essentials for feeding hungry cowboys.
The museum also has art exhibits like this one. These are paintings by Bob Stuth-Wade that are amazing.
Beautiful view of the mountains from the Museum of the Big Bend.
Alpine is a sleepy little town. Despite hosting a state university, there are no chain restaurants other than Subway, McDonald's and Sonic. The closest Starbucks is in Pecos which is 100 miles away. They have a Lowes Market and another small grocery store in addition to the Family Dollar & Dollar General stores. The lower end hotels like Holiday Inn Express and Hampton Inn are both available as well as other small independent hotels.
For me Alpine was a bit disappointing. In my mind, it had great potential but there are only 6.000 people that live there. Having said that, the Museum of the Big Bend definitely makes Alpine a place to put on your bucket list.
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