11 Most Endangered Historic Places

San Juan Hotel

Constructed: 1920
Location: San Juan, Texas

The San Juan Hotel has a long and complicated history in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and is one of the area’s most recognizable landmarks. The hotel was originally built in 1920 to serve Anglo businessmen and political figures moving into the largely Mexican American area and was re-faced in the Mission Revival style in 1928.

The hotel was built at the height of what historians refer to as “La Matanza” or “The Slaughter,” a period of anti-Mexican violence in Texas, often committed by Anglo-Texan vigilantes and law enforcement, which included massacres and lynchings.

Oral histories relay that the San Juan Hotel was used as a site of lynchings, as it is located along the main road dividing the Anglo neighborhood from the Mexican American neighborhood. The San Juan Hotel is one of the only remaining historic structures in the community and is registered as a landmark at the state level.

However, the hotel has been vacant for years and is severely deteriorating. The building is under threat of demolition as the City of San Juan considers a new downtown master plan.

Local community members have organized to form an advocacy group called “Save the San Juan Hotel Initiative,” supported by the Hidalgo County Historical Commission. They hope to work with the City to investigate the feasibility of rehabilitating the building. In an underserved and predominantly Mexican American community, local advocates believe that the rehabilitated San Juan Hotel has the potential to be a site of truth-telling and reconciliation, and to foster a sense of community pride and identity.

The San Juan Hotel was named to the National Trust's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list for 2025.