Standing at 15 stories tall, the Hotel Settles is a massive vertical fact in a town that saw its fair share of booms and busts. It opened its doors in October 1930, looking to provide a touch of grandeur to Big Spring. It did its job well enough to stay in business until the early 1980s.
Then came the long silence. The building sat abandoned for about 30 years, which is a long time to collect dust and let the paint peel. It was basically a local landmark of neglect until the Settles Hotel Development Corporation stepped in with a plan in 2006. They even took the hit of demolishing the old Greyhound Bus terminal next door to clear the site.
They managed to get the keys back to the public in December 2012. The National Register of Historic Places officially recognized its status in 2013, but the construction didn't stop there - work continued into the following year to get the place ship-shape.
Today, it is a functioning member of Historic Hotels of America. It is no longer a crumbling ruin - it is a polished survivor of the Texas boom-bust cycle.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Kyle McLonely
Discuss this with the author and others
No comments yet. Be the first to start the conversation.