07/31/2018
From some time I spent in Big Spring, Texas:
Hotel Settles - at the time of its opening in 1930, this was the tallest building in between Fort Worth and El Paso. It soon had to be sold during the Great Depression, when the Settles Family's oil revenues dwindled. Through the following years, the hotel had a noteworthy guest list - Elvis Presley, Herbert Hoover, and Jerry Allison were all visitants. After the 1970s energy crisis, west Texas fell victim to a large oil bust. This led the hotel and a handful of other business to close their doors in 1982. The state of Hotel Settles declined over the next two decades, even with strong community efforts in the 1990s. There was still a future in store for Hotel Settles! G. Brint Ryan purchased the property in 2006 and it was finally restored, with $30 million invested into the revitalization. Consolingly, undivided attention was paid to historic detail. Now it towers prominently over Big Spring as an inspiring monument.
Also pictured is The Pharmacy Bar & Parlour, a nod to the original hotel pharmacy, and The State Theater - now just a just a forgotten part of somber west Texas, the theater opened in 1942 but has been closed for many years. The exterior features a limestone facade with large fossils in it.
