Roper Hotel

The Roper Hotel, built around 1888 by George Calvin and Elizabeth Huckenhull Roper, was built of brick made locally. The Roper was one of the earliest hotels in Marble Falls, a town being developed in the 1870s and '80s as "The Manufacturing Center of the Southwest", and enjoyed a long and successful role in the town as a weekend stopover for Texas governors and politicians, a stage stop, headquarters for "drummers', or traveling salesmen, and as an elegant small hotel known as Francis House during the 1940s, 50's and 60's.

The Rope rs came to Texas in the late 1870s from Georgia via Missouri and Kansas and settled in Burnet before moving to Marble Falls. They were probably drawn to Marble Falls, the source of granite for the state capital building and later the source of granite for the construction of jetties and the Galveston Seawall, because of de development of the area by Gen. Adam Rankin Johnson of Burnet. The combination of the abundance of water power and the construction of a railroad spur for hauling granite to the capital seemed to make this a very reasonable location as a manufacturing center. Their health was another factor in their choice. Both victims of malaria, the Ropers must have been drawn to the healthful climate and terrain of Marble Falls (touted in a 1908 brochure for its positive effect on those suffering from malaria).

During these early years, Governor Hogg and his entourage took excursions to Marble Falls on the railroad and held festivities on the steamer (owned by Mr. Roper's brother), frequented the saloons, and stayed at the Roper Hotel. The Roper was also a center for the traveling salesmen, then called drummers, who stayed there and displayed their wares at the hotel and served as a stage stop for several years.

The Roper was sold to W. F. Smith in 1926 and continued in operation under the name (at least by 1934) of Central Hotel. By the time Smith sold to Birdie Smith in 1937, the name had been changed to "Francis House". Smith's partner, Alpha Slining, kept her 1/2 share of the hotel until 1951. Birdie Smith turned over her managing 1/2 interest in the hotel to her brother, R. 0. Smith, in 1939. Active in the civic and commercial activities of the post-war era, R. 0. was elected mayor of Marble Falls for two consecutive terms in 1945 and 1947.

Francis House stayed in the Smith family until 1963, run as a small family-operated venture in conjunction with the local movie house, the Uptown Theatre, which was several blocks away. Local news articles of the day describe the elegant interior and antique furnishings of Francis House, but the name quickly reverted to Roper Hotel with the townspeople as soon as it ceased operations as Francis House.

The property changed hands several times after 1963 until it was purchased recently by the Gunns, who have hired a restoration architect to prepare a historic structures report and have applied for grant funds in order to restore the building to active commercial use in the community.