The Legendary StageCoach Inn of Salado, Texas

Established in the early 1850's as the Shady Villa Hotel, the Stagecoach Inn has flourished in the past four decades as one of Texas' most popular restaurants.

In the earlier days most of the north and south travel across Texas was routed through Salado and many persons found food and rest at the Villa. Sam Houston slept there and made an anti-secession speech from the balcony. Genereal George Custer was a guest shortly after the Civil War, and many noted names appeared on the register of the Inn that was stolen in 1944 and never recovered.

The Inn was restored in the early 1940's by Mr. and Mrs. Dion Van Bibber. Mrs. Van created and prepared the famous recipes for the original restaurant and her old fashioned dishes are served to this very day. Mr. Van also had a hand in the business and hosted hungry, trail weary guests with his old world charm. Back in the day, the waitresses of the time would recite the days' menu by memory. If you dine in there today you will find that the current waitresses still recite the menu by memory as was done back then, when whatever was in the kitchen was the bill of fare for the day. It is a very pleasant and nostalgic touch, you will agree! The stagecoach in restaurant is open to non hotel guests and boasts a reputable menu of mouth watering fair. Not only is their staff warm and welcoming, we were pleasantly surprised that this historic restaurant is family friendly as well! When we visited our baby boy was only fifteen days old and our waitress simply insisted that she cuddle and hold him while we enjoyed our desserts. One thing is for sure, when you visit this beautiful, antique restaurant you are certain to feel and be treated as though you were one of the family.

With the construction of Interstate 35 in the mid-50's, the management recognized it was losing a lot of drop-in trade that formerly went through on Main Street. Knowing that something needed to be done in order to save the business, W.E. Bratton of California, nephew of Mrs. Van Bibber, assumed the ownership of the restaurant and directed the construction of the motel which has had a high occupancy rate from the beginning.

When the Van Bibbers chose to retire, Geneva Aiken took over as hostess and assistant manager of the complex. The updated complext has modern convention facilities, swimming pool and tennis courts.