b'Left: A postcard rendering of the Robert Driscoll Hotel, which opened on the block at N. Broadway and Leopard St. in 1942. Above: A menu page from The Morocco Room restaurant at the hotel. Below: Illustration of Leopard in the 1940sWilson Building, White Plaza Hotel and Robert Driscoll Hotel.While Mrs. Sevier was busy managing the La Gloria estate, advancing the cause ofthe corner of Upper North Broadway and Leopard Street on the high bluff. The hotel preserving Texas historical sites, and organizing and fundraising for Democratic pol- opened to great fanfare in May 1929, complete with matching penthouse apartments iticians, Hal was busy establishing a legacy of his own. Immediately upon returningon top for Clara and Robert who, sadly, did not get to enjoy his accomplishment for to Austin in 1914, he founded the Austin American newspaper, which he edited andlong. After contracting an infection that resulted in amputations of both legs, Robert published until the U.S. entered World War I, in 1917. The federal Committee on PublicDriscoll, Jr., died on July 7, 1929, at age 57.Information dispatched Hal to Argentina and Chile, where he was in charge of coun- The Driscoll estate that included cattle ranches, hotels and commercial properties, tering German propaganda against the U.S. He sold the newspaper in 1919, whichresidences and interests in an endless list of business venturesan empire built by her later became the Austin American-Statesman. grandfather and his brother, and grown larger by her brother and only sibling, would During this period, Claras brother, Robert, Jr., continued to expand the Driscoll em- be left entirely to Clara. She flatly rejected advice from family lawyers to sell the cattle pire in Nueces County, serving as president of Corpus Christi National Bank and play- and the land they grazed, where vast oil and gas deposits would soon be discovered. ing a pivotal role with Mayor Roy Miller in securing federal funding for the Port ofClara was quoted as telling them, Ill keep the cattle and the land, every foot of Corpus Christithe most significant development in the history of the Coastal Bend,it.Wewereasmallfamilyandveryclose.Theworktheystartedmeansev-up to and including the current day. Amid the citys building boom that started witherythingtome.Herword,started,denotedplansfortheDriscolllegacy. the opening of the port in 1926, Robert attracted a group of San Antonio investorsAfter fifteen years at Laguna Gloria, the Seviers once again pulled up roots and head-to build the biggest and most magnificent property in the region, the Plaza Hotel ated for their third home together at the Palo Alto Ranch, headquarters for the Driscoll 108THECOASTALBENDMAGAZINE TheCoastalBend.com'