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At the height of Llano’s “Iron Boom,” the Llano Improvement and Furnace Company financed the building of a magnificent hotel in the fields on the north side of the Llano River. It was named the Algona Hotel, for the hometown of two principal investors: F.R. “Frank” Malone, and his brother, George. The year was 1892, the same year that the first steel bridge was built across the river. According to Cobwebs and Cornerstones, the history of Llano’s business districts authored by Phyllis Almond and Sarah Franklin, the hotel was built on a foundation of stone blocks which rose at least three feet from the ground. The building was a majestic three-story structure with granite facings; the first floor consisted of the lobby, a huge ballroom with an orchestra pit, a music room, parlors, an immense banquet or dining room, the kitchen, and the living quarters for the owner or manager. Bedrooms were on the second and third floors, and in two-story wings on each side of the main building; there were more than sixty rooms altogether.

Each room was luxuriously furnished. Furniture was of beautifully carved wood and leather upholstery; the entire hotel was carpeted, and staircases were both ornate and substantial. The hotel was one of the first buildings in town to have electricity, which was provided by a dynamo in the basement.

One of the first managers of the hotel was Professor N.J. Badu, the aristocratic French mineralogist whose home and riverside park are Llano icons today. Professor Badu managed to produce elaborate meals for his guests, including fresh oysters (quite a feat in those days of slow transportation and little refrigeration), sea turtle soup and other exotic dishes. The Algona marked a distinct change in Llano society; orchestra music and elaborate balls took the place of fiddle music and square dancing.

The iron boom did not last long, and by 1897, the luxurious hotel became the Texas Military Institute. About ten Llano boys attended school there with about 40 other boys, mostly from Houston. In 1900, a tornado struck Llano, destroying many of the buildings on the north side of the river. The Algona lost its roof and most of its windows, but the damage was repaired.

Around that same time, the school left town. On May 14, 1901, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Marshall bought the hotel from W.T. and T.J. Moore. A huge banquet was held to celebrate the re-opening of the Algona Hotel. More than sixty regular guests made the Algona their home in 1901; they paid $15 a month for that privilege. Meals were prepared by a Mrs. Brooks. On October 9, 1906, the Marshalls sold the Algona to a Houston man named Franklin Sittig, who renamed it the Franklin. Mr. Sittig had a three-story porch, supported by huge pillars, added to the front of the building. He added three tennis courts, a billiard room, and a human-powered elevator to carry luggage to the upper floors. He also installed a buzzer system to allow guests to call the office for service. Horse-drawn busses carried passengers back and forth between the hotel, the railroad depot and the square. Mr. and Mrs. W.C. Wallace were the hotel managers.

Unfortunately, the hotel did not make a profit, and Mr. Sittig sold it in 1911; ownership changed hands several more times in the next few years. On October 19, 1916, the Franklin was sold to C.E. “Charlie” Schultz, who held a contest to come up with a new name; from then on, it was known as the Don Carlos Hotel. Once again, it was the center of Llano society, at least 40 regular guests lived there, and it was the venue for many business and entertainment events.

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It all came to an end on a bitterly cold night in February of 1923. A dinner party was being held, and fires were blazing in several different fireplaces. Somehow, the fire got into the walls, and around 4 a.m. the alarm was sounded. All the guests were able to escape safely, but by noon the next day, the Don Carlos Hotel was reduced to a few pieces of the walls and chimneys. The ruins stood untouched for thirty years, until workmen began clearing the lot for the new William Cameron and Company Lumber Yard. Four trailer truck loads of rock from Llano’s fine hotel were taken to San Marcos, where they became the base of a large statue on the grounds of the southwest Texas State Teachers College (now Texas State).

Three murals, depicting the three incarnations of the historic hotel, have been painted by local artist Gin Schwope for Charles and Sandra Slocumb, current owners of the site. The “Algona” mural is on the north side of the old lumber yard building; the “Franklin” mural is on the south. The third mural, a dramatic painting of the fire which destroyed the San Carlos, will soon be installed on the front of the building.