Jesse Driskill

ABOUT JESSE DRISKILL

Remembered for constructing the famous and allegedly haunted Driskill Hotel, which is Austin, Texas's oldest hotel and a National Register of Historic Places-designated site, Driskill eventually lost his fortune and turned ownership of the business over to his brother-in-law, Jim Day.

Before opening his hotel, he was a highly successful cattle farmer who provided beef for the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.

His hotel's restaurant is featured in the 2000 movie Miss Congeniality.

Born to a family of Irish descent, he spent his early days in White County, Tennessee, and later lived in both Missouri and Texas. His marriage to the Georgia-born Nancy Elizabeth Jane Day produced six children.

In the early 1930s, future United States President Lyndon B Johnson had his first dinner date with his soon-to-be-wife, Claudia Taylor, at the dining room of Driskill's hotel.