The Trip - Tourist in Cisco

The view of Cisco, from a hill on the Cisco Junior College campus:



There are two main claims to fame that Cisco, Texas, has, and both of them can be found to some extent in the same building: The Mobley Hotel.



Conrad Hilton, originally of New Mexico, came to Cisco during the big oil boom of 1917 with $5,000 in his pocket, intending to buy a bank. But his deal with the banker went south, and the Mobley Hotel was so crowded, one account says the owner told Hilton he could have the owner's personal room if Hilton would buy the hotel. Whatever the truth of the story, Hilton bought it, and from there developed an international hotel empire.

With funds from the Hilton Foundation, the Mobley Hotel has been restored. The main floor houses the Cisco Chamber of Commerce and a dinner theater, and the upstairs has a museum covering the life of Conrad Hilton as well as the history of Cisco.

This is a quote from Hilton, with photos of his parents. For the reading-challenged, the quote reads, "Life's journey, to be fulfilling, represents involvement in meaningful activity, sustained by a deep-rooted faith of being guided on a worthwhile course."



Another quote (not pictured here), taken from Conrad Hilton's last will and testament, says, "There is a natural law, a Divine law, that obliges you and me to relieve the suffering, the distressed, and the destitute. Charity is a supreme virtue, and the great channel through which the mercy of God is passed on to mankind."

How far his descendants have strayed from the faith of Conrad Hilton and his mother.

The Cisco history part of the museum has photos of the aftermath of the cyclone of 1893 (It looks just like a tornado hit the town), artifacts from bygone days, and this display of the uniforms of Cisco residents who served from World War I, through Desert Storm.



The other event that briefly put Cisco on the national map was the Great Santa Claus Bank Robbery of 1927. Four ne'er-do-wells (actually for one it was his first time of ne'er-do-welling) plotted a bank robbery of Cisco's First National Bank near Christmas, and to disguise himself, the leader of the bunch--a Cisco resident--dressed up as Santa so nobody would recognize him.

But the children recognized Santa, which gummed up the plan, and even though three of the robbers got away with some cash (the newbie to crime was shot and later died), they were caught by a posse, and Santa was lynched--the last lynching in Texas history.

These nefarious events have been memorialized in a musical play, which is performed each summer in the dinner theater of the Mobley Hotel. While we were touring the museum, we could hear the rehearsals going on downstairs. The songs sound like a lot of fun, and I'm thinking about attending a performance when we come back from our trip over to New Mexico.



Correction:

The dinner theater has a different show every summer. This year is the first time they have repeated The Great Santa Claus Bank Robbery, which was first performed a few years ago. I think I have it right now.