The ground floor of Silver City's Murray Hotel is getting its old swagger back. Nearly 90 years after the hotel first opened its doors, the space once known as the Branding Iron — where ranchers and businessmen used to hash out deals over drinks — is being remade into the Branding Iron Restaurant and Lounge.
The remodel is still in its early stages, according to scdailypress.com, but the goal is clear: bring back a working restaurant and bar to a building that has spent decades rebuilding its identity. Co-owner Christine Rickman said the project is about filling a gap in town and giving hotel guests somewhere to eat without leaving the building. “One is we knew the community is in great need of more dining options. We also want to provide the restaurant as an amenity to our hotel guests,” Rickman said, per the same outlet.
The Branding Iron name carries real weight at the Murray. As Desert Exposure has reported, the space began life as the Copper Lounge before becoming the Branding Iron, a gathering spot for ranchers and politicians where business deals were made. It reportedly survived nearly another decade even after the rest of the hotel closed its doors.
A Mural Hidden Since the Late ’70s or Early ’80s
Perhaps the most striking piece of the restoration is a wall mural depicting cattle brands from Grant County ranchers, originally painted by Ira Dodd. The scdailypress.com report notes it was painted over at some point, with hotel staff estimating it happened in the late 1970s or early 1980s, though portions of it remain visible today.
Hotel management is treating the mural as something worth saving rather than painting over again. “We have every intention of keeping the mural,” according to the same report. Staff say they have already identified all but two of the cattle brands missing from one corner, piecing together a bit of local ranching history brand by brand.
From Boom to Decades of Decline
The Murray's story goes back to William D. “Billy” Murray, who partnered with James S. Ryan to build the hotel, hiring El Paso architect Percy McGhee to design it in the Streamline Moderne style, according to Desert Exposure. Construction began in April 1938, and J.E. Morgan and Sons won the construction contract with a bid of $99,984. The five-story building opened with 52 guest rooms, a restaurant, coffee shop, bar, cocktail lounge, ballroom and office space, plus a Governor's Suite where New Mexico Governor Clyde Tingley and his wife were the first guests to stay.
The grand opening on Oct. 22, 1938, was built for a crowd of 350 but drew 385 reservations, with admission running $2.50 per person or $5 per couple for dinner, dancing and entertainment, per Desert Exposure's account. In its early decades the hotel hosted everything from Red Cross fundraisers to Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, Kiwanis and Elks gatherings, and it sheltered servicemen on leave from Deming Air Base during World War II.
A 1948 expansion funded by Murray and Ryan, designed again by McGhee at a reported cost of $357,000, enlarged the kitchen, added a ballroom and remodeled the lobby, while the hotel's hand-cranked elevator was converted to push-button technology that same year. The ballroom went on to host dances through the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, including performances by Meredith Neal and his Boot Heel Boys and local Battle of the Bands competitions, according to Desert Exposure.
Sale, Closure and a Long Vacancy
The Ryan family sold the Murray to the Milner Hotel chain in 1963, a transition Desert Exposure reports cost the hotel its investment going forward. By the 1970s, water damage had forced the closure of the fourth and fifth floors, and the hotel shut down entirely around 1980. It then sat vacant for more than two decades before Kurt and Julianna Albershardt purchased the property in 2005 and began its restoration.
Hotel operations resumed in 2012 after that renovation, according to a separate Desert Exposure report, with the Art Deco ballroom refurbished and ready to host parties and events again, per scdailypress.com. Christine Rickman and her husband, Michael Metcalf, later took on a 50 percent ownership stake in the hotel. Managers at the time described a significant increase in new business and revenue tied to new marketing efforts.
Looking Ahead to November
Desert Exposure reports the Branding Iron Restaurant and Lounge is expected to open in November, giving the Murray a working kitchen and bar for the first time in decades. The hotel's 53 rooms still carry that 1930s-’40s aesthetic, refreshed with new carpeting and furniture in 2024, and the building remains smoke-free and pet-friendly.
Rickman has framed the restaurant as one piece of a bigger comeback. “We envision the hotel becoming the hub of activity once again through the restaurant, residential apartments, Made In Silver City Gallery and our ballroom event space,” she said, according to scdailypress.com. The ballroom itself can now accommodate events of up to 150 people, and the hotel is positioning itself as a downtown base for visitors exploring the Gila, Pinos Altos, City of Rocks and other regional destinations, per Desert Exposure.
The Murray is listed as a contributing building in the Silver City Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places, according to the Guide to New Mexico Architecture, which notes the Murray suffered a downturn for a few decades at the end of the 20th century but has been significantly restored in recent years. For a town whose ranching history is quite literally painted into its walls, getting that bar — and that mural — back open is as much about memory as it is about dinner reservations.
