HOTEL RITCHEY:
New Life After a Long and Dusty Ride
by Mattie Matthaei
Photo courtesy of Mattie Mattaei
I
t was dry and dusty and the trail
from the ranches south of Marathon
to the cattle pens at the railroad sta-
tion in Alpine was a long one. Driving
cattle to market across rocky and rugged
terrain was a slow proposition. They ate,
slept and rode with the cattle, and by the
time the men who chose such an occu-
pation and their mounts finally arrived
in the bustling town of Alpine they were
tired, dirty and spent. As the saying goes
out here, they looked like they had been
‘rode hard and put up wet.’
The stock loading pens were on the
south side of the railroad tracks near the
12
train station at 5th and South Front
Street (now called Murphy Street). A
stone’s throw from the cattle pens on
the southeast corner of 5th and S.
Front St. was the Hotel Ritchey, then
called City Hotel. It was a simple,
humble, two-story frame establishment
that offered meals, a saloon and rooms
for the cowhands, railroad workers and
the like. There were ten rooms to rent
upstairs off of a central hall and each
room was just big enough for a metal
frame twin bed and a table with a basin
and a pitcher of water. There was no
running water, but there was a shared
Cenizo
Fourth Quarter 2018
Photo courtesy of Texas Historical C ommission