Schmidt-Dietz Building

Marker installed: 1981

Ludwig Schmidt constructed this two-story stone building in the 1860s for use as a hotel. In the early 1890s it was leased to Louis Dietz, who ran the business as the Central Hotel and later as the Dietz Hotel. His home east of the structure provided space for the hotel kitchen and dining room. Merchant Charles Schwarz bought the property in 1899 and opened a store here. the building has also housed a saloon, doctors' and lawyers' offices, and a drugstore.

Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1981.

commercial buildings inns, hotels, motels

Texas has been a major oil-producing state for over a century. The first big oil discovery in Texas was the Spindletop field near Beaumont in 1901, which set off a massive oil boom that transformed the state's economy and made Texas one of the wealthiest states in the country.