The Beach Hotel’s wildlife menagerie

The Beach Hotel was Galveston’s most prominent structure on the beach front during its short existence.

Designed by Galveston architect Nicholas J. Clayton (1840-1916), the hotel was completed in 1883 and burned in 1898. It stood on the beach between 23rd and 25th streets.

The photograph in the Rosenberg Library’s Galveston and Texas History Center shows the Beach Hotel with crowds milling. In the enlargement, the observer will notice a metal cage beneath the hotel’s steps. This is visual evidence of an animal menagerie, the 19th-century predecessor of today’s roadside zoo.

During the 1880s, Galveston had no city ordinances concerning the keeping of wild and exotic animals or for protecting their welfare.

In August 1884, the Beach Hotel announced its menagerie in advertisements in The News. The hotel had metal cages on its grounds with wild animals to thrill and delight its guests.

The hardship of the animals can be only imagined. On display were birds, Mexican lions (mountain lions), panthers and other wildlife.

The hotel’s owners failed to realize the folly of keeping exotic and ferocious animals. A caged panther mauled a child in November 1884, prompting a $15,000 lawsuit by his father against the Beach Hotel Co.

The Daily News, Nov. 6, 1885, commented in regards to the lawsuit: “Beach Hotel … had ferocious and wild animals confined in cages near its site for the purpose of amusing the general public, among them panthers, than which none more treacherous and dangerous are known.”

The animal menagerie ended with the hurricane of Aug. 20, 1886. Many animals were lost, while others, including two Mexican lions, escaped. The lions were hunted and killed, although the hunters shot one of their own by accident.

Common sense evidently prevailed after the storm because the Beach Hotel never again kept an animal menagerie.

The Rosenberg Library collects historic images of Galveston, including the Beach Hotel. To donate them, contact Casey Edward Greene, head of special collections, Rosenberg Library, 2310 Sealy, Galveston, TX 77550, or email cgreene(at)rosenberg-library.org.

Casey Edward Greene is head of special collections at Rosenberg Library.