The Olde Park Hotel is a bed and breakfast and tourist attraction located in Ballinger, Texas. Today's the Olde Park Hotel has seen various different uses such as schoolhouse, saloon, and hotel over its history but is today a bed and breakfast and event venue owned by the LaFave family.

History

The Olde Park Hotel, standing where it has since before Ballinger existed, was built as a bunkhouse for railroad workers, but was sold in an auction in July 1886.

In the hotel's life, it has been a schoolhouse, a hotel, and a saloon.

In 2016, Dan and Connie LaFave, the founders of the paranormal investigation group Graveyard Shift, bought the hotel to restore it to its original condition.

Architecture

The building has been enlarged a few times in its history. One expansion was moved to Ballinger on logs from nearby Runnels City, and it is believed that another part of the building was once briefly used as Runnels's courthouse.

Purported haunting

The hotel is considered to be haunted and marketed as such. One previous owner, Jeanette Findlay, has reportedly identified 30 different entities present in the hotel. The hotel's reputation has resulted in its periodically appearing in paranormal television programming. The hotel was visited in 2018 by Brad and Barry Klinge, hosts Ghost Lab, and Brandy Green of Ghost Hunters International, and in 2019 by paranormal investigator and actor Chad Lindberg. The hotel is to be featured in the Travel Channel television show Fright Club, hosted by Jack Osbourne.