History of the Calvert Hotel

Gottlieb Dirr built the Hotel originally as a five-room cottage in 1872. Dirr came to Calvert from Germany to work in the coal mines that were in production at the time. After a flood forced the mine's closing, Gottlieb Dirr made his living through the grocery/bakery he owned on Main Street. When Dirr died in 1898, his widow Hanna, added a second story to the home, plus an elaborate front with columns, a porch with railings, and opened the "Cottage Hotel."

The hotel sat directly across from the Southern Pacific Railroad, formerly the Houston and Texas Central, and only two blocks from the station's depot. It caught the business of many traveling salesmen known as "drummers" and other commercial travelers who came through Calvert. In the early years, the salesman would visit the various country stores throughout the area. Returning to the hotel for their evening meal, they were provided with a large back room where they displayed their wares and wrote up orders for the day.

The hotel expanded in the following years to support a booming cotton trade and the activity generated by the railroad. The original cottage was built on a foundation of logs whose tops had been smoothed level. From East Mitchell Street, a close look at the south porch and double doors will give you an idea of where it is incorporated into the present structure, surrounded on the west, east and north by additions. The hotel was one of the first Calvert structures to enjoy electricity and running water (1886). Initially, it was heated by a hot-air system fueled by a coal-fed basement furnace but was later served by oil and then by gas heat.

Today, you will find the hotel offers the same hospitality as the Dirr family offered those many years ago.