Vale, Oregon, isn't a town most people have heard about and few have explored in recent years. At one time, though, it was a place travelers along the Oregon Trail knew well because of the natural hot springs that bubbled there. Journals from pioneers along the Oregon Trail mention the Malheur River crossing and hot springs where they could rest, take baths, and wash their clothes.
The area was popular as far back as 1828 with trappers of the Hudson Bay Company based out of Vancouver, Washington. The wives of Marcus Whitman and Henry Spaulding were among the first white women to arrive in the area in 1836 when the missionaries were traveling through.
A temporary trading post, run by a man named Turner, opened up sometime around 1850. Later, Jonathan Keeney (of Keeney Pass fame) later built a house and barn near the hot springs. Lewis B. Rinehart bought the Keeny property in 1870 and built the historic Stone House there in 1872. His brother-in-law leased the house in 1883, and it became the first post office. Vale became the official name of what was formerly known as Malheur Crossing.
In 1907, construction began on a hotel. It opened in 1908 as the Drexel Hotel. It was adjacent to the Grand Central Saloon, believed to have been constructed around 1896. The saloon was altered around the same time the hotel was built and became the Vale Grand Opera House. Together, the hotel and opera house added a bit of elegance to the dusty trail town.
When it opened, the Drexel Hotel was billed as the best hostelry in the intermountain country. It offered guests 58 first class rooms with conveniences such as baths with hot and cold water. The dining room tables were covered in white linen, with the laundry handled by a Chinese laundry in town. The northeast corner of the hotel housed a bank and a variety of businesses occupied space there over the years such as a drug store, café, bar, telephone office, doctor's office, and barber shop.
However, despite the early years of success, the hotel was left vacant in 1969 and has remained that way. In 1984, the buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2016, the Drexel Hotel, or the Vale Hotel as it is commonly referred, was named as one of Oregon's most endangered places.
The Drexel H. Foundation and Rural Development Initiative were established to attempt to preserve the hotel. After saving the hotel from the wrecking ball in the 1990s, the foundation has made roof repairs and stabilized the structure of both the hotel and opera house. The bricks have undergone mortar repairs and progress is being made, a little at a time.
The old hotel and opera house are the inspiration behind an old hotel in need of restoration in my latest release. In the story, a city girl arrives in Summer Creek, a quirky small town in Oregon. She falls in love with the derelict old buildings in town (and a hunky cowboy) and sets about forming a committee to rescue the buildings before the history and hope they carry are lost.
You can read more about Emery and her Walk Through 1910 project in Catching The Cowboy.
And be sure to enter the $50 Amazon Gift Card giveaway here.
USA Today bestselling author Shanna Hatfield is a farm girl who loves to write. Her sweet historical and contemporary romances are filled with sarcasm, humor, hope, and hunky heroes. When Shanna isn’t dreaming up unforgettable characters, twisting plots, or covertly seeking dark, decadent chocolate, she hangs out with her beloved husband, Captain Cavedweller.
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