The Menger Hotel bar - Rough Riders recruiting tradition

The Menger Hotel, adjacent to the Alamo, opened in 1859 and features a historic bar that is traditionally cited as a place where Theodore Roosevelt recruited local volunteers for the Rough Riders in 1898. The hotel is a long-standing downtown institution with period architecture and interiors that locals often point to when discussing San Antonio's Victorian-era downtown life. The precise historical details of recruitment are debated by some historians, but the association remains a well-known local tradition.