The Fascinating History of Clarion Hotel’s Bar
The Arc Light Bar & Grill harkens back to San Angelo’s history. There was once an Arc Light Saloon in downtown San Angelo and it was owned and managed by a man long forgotten but, just the same, a very important figure in the building of San Angelo as it is today.
The original Arc Light’s proprietor’s name was Thomas McCloskey, born in 1856. He arrived in San Angelo with his wife, Laura, from Dallas in 1892 and bought a bar on the corner of E. Concho Ave. and S. Chadbourne St. He soon renamed it “McCloskey’s Place” at first, but after “arc light” electric streetlights were installed near the bar, he renamed it again to the Arc Light Saloon.
The building where the Arc Light Saloon was located is still standing today. It’s the Heritage Haus clock store, 230 S. Chadbourne St. Street numbers in San Angelo are based upon the intersection of the east-west Beauregard Ave. and north-south Chadbourne St. The building is on the northeast corner of the intersection of S. Chadbourne and Concho Ave. Some call it “Lot one of block one,” where San Angelo began.
History records that the bar had a great reputation as being a place where businessmen made deals. Law enforcement had little trouble with that location, even in rough and rowdy San Angelo of the Gilded Age.
You can learn more about McClosky and the original Arc Light by visiting the Heritage Haus where the bar once was. On one wall of the clock shop is a giant mural, commissioned in the mid-20th Century depicting the inside of the Arc Light. More about McCloskey and the Arc Light Saloon is in this article.
The Arc Light of the 21st Century was founded in 2024 by San Angelo’s newspaperman, Joe Hyde. The bar is thriving.
Come visit a bar built upon San Angelo’s heritage. A side interest is military aviation. Hyde was a B-52 combat pilot. B-52s are famous for the bombing campaigns in Vietnam. The earliest bombing campaigns were called “Arc Light.”
