ROGERS — There has been a lot of interest lately in the largest and most impressive structure in historic downtown Rogers.

The five-story building, built in 1928, was originally named the Lane Hotel.

It has recently been vacant.

Last Wednesday, Kerry Jensen, the president of Main Street Rogers, invited me to accompany him, Craig Hull of Hull and Company, Janet Foster, the mayor’s assistant, and a reporter from a local radio station, on a tour of the historic hotel. I have always been intrigued by the hotel and was excited about the opportunity to see it again.

The Lane Hotel was advertised as the first fireproof hotel in Arkansas because of its steel frame and masonry construction. The cost of the Spanish colonial-style building was $150,000 in 1928.

Some of the occupants who have stayed at the Lane include aviator Amelia Earhart, boxer Jack Dempsey, and actors Errol Flynn and Henry Fonda.

One of Rogers’ early citizens described the hotel: “When they built the depot they built the hotel... a pretty place. Oh, they used to have dances and music! And people all over Rogers, that’s all they had to do... would go over and sit in front of the post office... and they’d sit and listen to that music.” (Ethel Kelley Hays from A Walking Tour of Downtown Rogers by the Rogers Historical Museum)

The timing for the opening of the Lane was catastrophic, because the Great Depression started the next year. People did not have money for a fancy hotel and it went broke soon afterward.

In 1935, Earl Harris, the owner of Harris Bakery, bought the bankrupt Lane Hotel for $100,000. This was quite a bargain, for the hotel had been built just seven years earlier for $150,000. He changed the name to the Harris Hotel, the “Palace of the Ozarks,” and made it into the cultural center of northwest Arkansas. He added the Orchard Room, a very popular restaurant, to the back of the hotel around 1939. The Harris was the largest and nicest hotel between Kansas City, Fort Smith and Little Rock.

The hotel was locatedbetween the bus station on Second Street and the train depot on First Street and was the place to stay. Traveling salesmen, tourists, movie actors and even rival football teams were guests. In the 1940s and 1950s, the Texas football team (boo!) was the Razorbacks’ main rival, and stayed at the Harris Hotel when they came to play.

The lobby of the hotel was always buzzing with activity.

According to Earl’s son, Pat Harris: “People were always hanging around the lobby including many local citizens who wanted to be a part of the excitement. On the left of the lobby was a shop that sold newspapers and other items and had a shoeshine stand. A room further west on the lobby floor was a fairly large room for piano recitals and otherfunctions. Off the lobby to the right was a large room where dances, balls, wedding receptions and other social activities were held. At the time before World War II, Rogers was wet, and if a hotel guest wanted a drink, he would tip a hotel employee to get a bottle of liquorfrom the liquor store across the street. The Harris Hotel was the center of social activity in northwest Arkansas.” (From an interview with Pat Harris, May 5, 2007)

In 1948 Warren Felker and the Arkansas Hotel Company purchased and ran the property as The Hotel Arkansas. The hotel continued to be successful for the next decade, but business started to fall off in the late 1950s. About 1960, the businesses in Rogers began to move out to the west of town along Highway 71 and along west Walnut. New motels sprung up and the Hotel Arkansas dwindled. The famous old “Palace of the Ozarks” closed July 15, 1963.

In 1967, the Defenders of the Christian Faith bought the building and opened it as The Defender’s Townhouse, beginning the buildings use as a retirement home. Joe and Dera Keen bought the building in 1977 and renamed it the Rogers Townhouse. Since 1999 it has been known as the Peachtree at the Lane. (Dr.

Gaye Bland, Rogers Historical Museum Web site, May 22, 2006)

The Peachtree closed about 2004, and this magnificent building with so much fascinating history has been awaiting the next chapter in its story.

The famous hotel offers great opportunities for development.

The street level is lined with spaces for retail shops. The lobby, ballroom, restaurant and assorted offices occupy the second or main floor and offer a perfect location for a quaint, nostalgic, spacious restaurant.

The beautiful lobby is just like it was when built in 1928 with the original hand-carved beams, wood trim and paneling, large fireplace and tile floors. Even the light fixtures with built-in fans are original.

Today, new restaurants spend tons of money attempting to duplicate this kind of ambiance, but could never achieve the real historic character of the “Palace of the Ozarks.”

The five-story hotel would make a great destination stop for tourists similar to the Crescent and Basin Park in Eureka Springs. Many travelers, including myself, like to search out historic and nostalgic hotels that offer much more than just a place to sleep. If a hotel reopened here, it would offer areal taste of the romantic history of the area and a step back into time to a magical carefree era.

James Hales is a retired homebuilder and historian who has written two books about the history of Rogers. His latest book, The Fabulous 1960s in Rogers, Arkansas, chronicles the exciting changes that occurred in the decade of the 1960s.

Opinion, Pages 4 on 11/04/2009

Comments

To report abuse or misuse of this area please hit the "Suggest Removal" link in the comment to alert our online managers.

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.