Southern Hotel

The Southern Hotel is both the creation of an age and its victim. It was a prototype of the small town railroad hotel - serving the needs of the traveler primarily and then, by logical extension, acting as commercial and social center of the community itself. Oklahoma, as Territory and then as State, grew up in the Age of Steam. Then the course of the rail line determined the location of the towns and cities it was laid to serve. And the location of its depot, as noted in No. 7, dictated the site of a hotel to meet the needs of rail passengers and, assuming its competence, virtually assured its success.

The Southern was such a hotel, Even allowing for journalistic bombast, it was, when built in 1909, one of the state's largest and finest. It soon acquired the bulk of the patronage of rail passengers forced to lay over in El Reno between trains, along with much of the "drummer" trade. Before the Southern was built the Rock Island had established the Grier Eating House in two dining cars on its own property. But in 1922 the railroad discontinued this service, signing a contract with the Southern Hotel to take care of its passengers, A sidewalk ran from the south side of the depot east across Grand to the main entrance of the Southern. Much of this walkway was covered by a vine-covered arbor. A notable sight - and sound - of the 1920s and 1930s was the hotel porter coming out to the walkway and ringing his large bell to announce "Dinner now being served. Dinner now being served."

The El Reno community also accepted the Southern. The hotel was long an important social center for the town and county, hosting many banquets, political gatherings, and other special meetings. On one memorable occasion, when he was late to a meeting, Mayor Pete Duffy is said to have ridden his white horse into the hotel lobby.

World War I and World War II put extra burdens on the railroads. And on the railroad hotels, The Southern met the challenge. But World War II was the beginning of the end. The Rock Island withdrew rapidly from passenger service in the late 1940s, Transportation patterns began to change drastically and, as the family auto took over, the hotel began to give way to the more convenient motel. The Southern carried on into the 1950s and 1960s, but in a rather dispirited way. A latter-day owner combined hotel rooms to create fourteen apartments, occupied largely by the elderly. Even this use has dwindled in the past few years. Today the hotel, though still structurally sound, is faced with continuing deterioration and eventual destruction.

One glimmer of hope remains however, The Rock Island's large, tile-roofed brick depot across Grand from the Southern fell victim to the same changing economic factors, When the railroad's last passenger train ran Nov. 9, 1967, and the depot was ripe for razing, the Canadian County Historical Society rose to the occasion. Recognizing the fact that El Reno is one of the state's largest railroad centers (Rock Island maintains Southern Division offices as well as extensive yards and shops in El Reno, and with 500 employees is the town's largest employer), it took over the depot, developed it as the Canadian County Historical Museum. The building itself is now in the National Register of Historic Places, as is the Red Cross Canteen, on the grounds between the depot at the hotel. The Canteen, one of the first in the United States, served tens of thousands of rail-borne service personnel in two wars. It is now the hope of the Society that the Southern Hotel - as a vital part of the depot complex - can be saved, restored, and used to further dramatize the historical heritage of El Reno and Canadian County.