Southern Hotel

319 S Grand Ave., El Reno, OK
Phone:

East < GO > West

The former Southern Hotel was the Southern Manor Apartments and Senior Housing and also housed the El Reno Senior Center when we went by in 2013. The sidewalk led train passengers from the depot to the hotel and mostly to the ding room for a quick bite to eat before the train left the station again.

Hans Paulsen and Henry Shafer built the hotel in two main sections, the first in 1907 and the second in 1909. The first section, a rather nondescript building, stands on the corner of Wade and Grand. The second, and much grander, section extends east along Grand towards London Street. An archway in the middle of the block allows access through the building via what was originally an alley that the city apparently insisted be kept open. The hotel soon became a central part of the civic and social fabric of the city.

Combined, the two buildings offered 125 rooms, many with private bathrooms. The 1909 section also featured a grand lobby with an adjacent coffee shop and dining room. The lobby had a "smooth tile floor" ideal for dancing. And dance people did, nightly for many years. The floor it was claimed that the as many as 100 couples could be accommodated on the dance floor at the same time, I'm guessing that number might have varied depending on style of dance involved. For several years after the hotel was built an interurban trolley depot was located in the older section of the building.

Almost all of the first floor storefronts and entrances have been modified or filled in.

Hans Paulsen bought out his partner in 1947 and became the sole owner of the hotel until he died in 1953. His death led to a relatively quick series of sales of the properly.

Mrs. Paulsen sold it to M. A. King in 1954. King announced plans to update the hotel, changed the name to the New Southern Hotel and immediately banned dancing in the coffee shop, which had been a nightly occurrence for many years.

King sold the hotel James A. McLane in March of 1956. The dancing returned after King sold the place. He sold the hotel to H. G. Haworth in December of 1956. Haworth owned the hotel until at least 1965. The last passenger train to stop at El Reno was in 1967. By then the hotel had mostly outlived its role as a transient lodging house. Travel by train had lost the favor of many, replaced by the automobile. Those automobiles traveled Route 66 and stopped at the more convenient motels along the way. The hotel is a block off Route 66 and the vast majority of the people travel by probably never saw it.

The hotel is directly across the street from the Canadian County Historic Museum located in the old Rock Island Railroad depot. That was a great location at the time since as many as 23 trains stopped at the depot every day.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. It was in such bad shape that even though it was on the NRHP it was almost torn down in 1979. Luckily a developer stepped up to the plate and restored the building.

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Vintage Advertising Highlights

Southern Hotel, El Reno, Okla.

SOUTHERN HOTEL, EL RENO, OKLA.

NOTE: That's all you get, a couple nice photos of the building with the hotel name and city and state on the front, no description on the back. The first card shows the original pre-1910 hotel, the second shows the post 1910 March of 1910 after the second section of the hotel was finished.
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Photo(s): 2013