William J. and Mary O'Daniel Moore moved to Texas from Alabama with their family in 1845, and settled in Lavaca County in 1853 on 500 acres. Moore was a farmer and raised livestock. Their son, Samuel B. Moore, also became a farmer and rancher.

In the 1860's, Samuel and his brother William Moore bought 12,000 acres of land lying between the present towns of Moulton and Shiner. The Moore brothers granted right of way out of their land to the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railroad in 1887. A town-site was plotted, and the new town of Moulton was established.

The Moore Hotel was built in 1888 directly east of the railroad tracks and depot. The 32 room hotel was built to accommodate travelers and the large influx of people arriving in the growing community during this period.

A large room in the back of the hotel was known as the "sample room". Here the salesmen, or "drummers", as they were called then, could spread their samples and wares on long tables which were furnished to them. Merchants would come to the room to see the latest fashions, household goods, and materials, and to place their orders.

Young men who came to town from distant places looking for jobs boarded at the hotel. On weekends, the hotel parlor was filled with music and song, becoming the social center of the new community. Often newlyweds lived there until a home was made available to them. The 32 rooms were usually all occupied.

In 1890, the Moore Hotel was purchased by Christian Kotzebue. It was progressively enlarged, and when finished, the hotel contained 42 rooms. In the annexes, containing between 23 and 30 bedrooms, was located the wine cellar, where Christian Kotzebue prepared his wine. The sample room of the hotel became the site of the first Boy Scout building for Moulton in 1921. Christian and his wife, Louise, had seventeen children. The couple lived quietly, looking after the Moore Hotel and their children. After Christian died, his sons and daughters managed the hotel until it went out of business in the 1930's.

The Moore Hotel building was purchased by Edwin and Minnie Pundt in 1940. The old hotel was demolished to make way for a new business, a grocery store and meat market. The carpenter's crew tore down the hotel and used much of the lumber to build the store with living quarters upstairs. The store closed during World War II. It was remodeled and reopened as Pundt's Cafe in 1942. A west dining room and an east dance hall were added to the original building.

On March 1, 1971, Harvey and Diana Kloesel purchased the cafe and renovated it into Kloesel's Steakhouse.

In the original building of the Pundt's Cafe (that is now the front dining room of Kloesel's Steakhouse), hangs a frosted glass artwork that was part of a door of the Moore Hotel. The west dining room of the steakhouse features a large original sketch of the Moore Hotel as well as pictures of the hotel interior and other historical pictures of early Moulton.