201 EAST PECAN STREET
by Clayton Stapleton

Updated 07/18/04 21:59 GMT

 

201 East Pecan Street - November of 1866 Austin, TX
The Missouri House
201 East Pecan Street (1866)
[Photo
©2002 Murray Montgomery]

201 East 6th Street (December 2002) Click to enlarge
Buffalo Billiards
201 East 6th Street (2002)

  AUSTIN, TEXAS - The building at 201 East Pecan street was built in 1861 by the Ziller Family and opened for business as the first boarding house in Austin, which they called "The Missouri House". It's rumored that the boarding house was also a brothel. Several brothels where known to operate in that area just south east of "Guy Town". Through out the years the building at 201 East Pecan Street served the community as a bar, store, and many other businesses. Always a community place to meet and greet, so to speak. As years past the popular Driskill Hotel was built across the street on the corner of Brazos and Pecan, (now known as 6th Street).

Buffalo Billiards occupies the building today and some say the building is experiencing echoes from it's past in the form of paranormal activities and apparitions. The first week of operation the manager did his normal nightly routine of placing all the pool sticks on the racks, and the billiard balls in their cases before closing and locking the doors for the night. The next morning, he arrived early to catch up on some paperwork after unlocking the front door he noticed that in the front foyer all of the sticks where laying on the tables and the ball were stern everywhere. Several balls were found lying on the floor. The manager immediately thought someone had broken into the store so he called the Austin Police department to report the break in. When the officers arrived they checked the building for any marks of a break-in or signs of intrusions and found none. The building's alarm was still armed and didn't show any signs of being tampered with. The police checked the building for possible intruders hiding within the building and found know one. It looked as if the manager had forgotten to clean up before he closed for the day.

Not long after that strange experience a cleaning woman was on the second floor in the area called the "Orbit Lounge". While mopping the floor of the lounge she felt as if someone had been watching her. When she had finished the chore she left the mop and bucket and went back in to turn off the lights. On her way back to the front door, where she had left the mop and bucket, she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She turned around and saw nothing but the blackness of the room. She let out a loud scream then ran out of the second floor and the building. She quit the next day and never returned.

 

A night bartender was getting the bar ready for a party in the Orbit Lounge one afternoon and had left the floor to get some clean glasses from downstairs. When he walked back up to the second floor lounge he noticed a gentleman in strange attire near a window looking out onto Brazos street. When he asked the man if he could help him the man turned to look at him and smiled. Then turned and walked to where a door had been before the floor was remodeled. He stepped through the wall and down the hall, only to disappear around a corner. When the bartender calmed down enough to tell others what he had seen he mention that the gentleman was wearing a suit like that of someone that lived in the later 1800's.

If you ever visit Buffalo Billiards ask the employees about any paranormal activates in the old building at 201 East Pecan (6th street). Almost everyone has seen or had something happen to them while working there.

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Lone Star Diary- The photograph of the "The Missouri House" appears here courteous of  Murray Montgomery Photography.

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