Credit for the original motel is attributed to Otho Lee Ragan. Having graduated from Capitol Business College in Salem, he came to Florence in 1907 as a bookkeeper for the Herd Lumber Company. He left after two years, but vowed to return one day. Lee went on to work for a Salem woolen mills store for 14 years and travelled as a merchant to various towns. He eventually left Salem but continued to travel for a shoe firm before moving to Portland, then Eugene.
Lee must have kept Florence in mind throughout the years because in 1936 he and his wife Lenna chose to settle in Florence to establish the Motel Ragan. He once stated Florence was “a good place with a future”. It took time to acquire the property, but eventually the motel was built where it stands today. The Siuslaw bridge was completed in 1936 and provided a gateway for travelling tourist and a need for lodging accommodations. Motel Ragan welcomed visitors in 1938 with 16 rooms. By 1940, the U.S. Census record reported Lee maintained a 70-hour work week as proprietor of the motel. Lenna Cavanagh Ragan was active in civic projects, and worked tirelessly in helping to establish a hospital in Florence. In 1952, Howard and his wife Janet (Hughes) settled in Florence to help his mother Lenna and sister Eleanor with the Motel Ragan.
While some may have frowned upon the motel as a business prospect, it was said Lee could “visualize the future, and what he built had character and quality”. Years later, Lee’s son Howard Cavanagh Ragan recalled the earlier days: “in the dining room, we used to serve a five-course meal (complete with a linen table cloth) for $1.50. I remember my sister making fresh squeezed orange juice in the morning for 35 cents a glass.” A third generation Oregonian, Howard was a descendant of the pioneer Miller family, who came to the new territory with the first wagon trains in 1851. He worked for the W.P. Fuller Company (Fuller Brush and Paint) in Portland, Salem and Pendleton. In 1952, he and his wife Janet (Hughes) settled in Florence to help his mother Lenna and sister Eleanor with the Motel Ragan.
Howard and Janet immersed themselves in the motel business while raising their family – Nancy, Margaret (“Peggy), Howard H. (“Hugh”), and Sally. In 1961, they expanded their services when the Western Greyhound Bus Lines established a stop (“six schedules per day”) at the motel. For local mushroom pickers, the Greyhound bus enabled their produce to arrive at San Francisco in a timely, reliable manner. The motel also provided services for Western Union, and the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Throughout the years, Howard was actively involved with community service. He served three terms on the Florence City Council (1952 to 1956, 1969 to 1976), was a member of the Rotary Club, Masonic Lodge, Chamber of Commerce President (1954), Elks, Siuslaw School Board, Lane Housing Authority and more.
Janet Ragan enjoyed the motel business and together with her husband Howard and daughter Eleanor, operated the Motel Ragan for 23 years. She was also a Register-Guard newspaper correspondent and reported on Florence news. Prior to the days of fax machines, Janet submitted her news articles by reading it over the phone to someone at the Register.
During a recent interview with Sally, the youngest Ragan daughter, she recalled playing at the motel after school each day. As she grew older, she spent summers working at the motel and marveled at how her mother Janet was able to greet every guest by name as they entered the lobby for coffee each morning. According to Sally, many guests returned to stay at the motel during their Florence visits and expressed a fondness for its ‘home-like’ atmosphere. One such visitor was their celebrity guest, Boris Karloff. He enjoyed the comfortable, quiet atmosphere and ‘lack of paparazzi’ the motel provided.
Despite the hard work, Howard once stated, “there’s no finer place to live than Florence”. Throughout the years, the Ragans continued to supported the growth of Florence and welcomed all visitors. We celebrate their legacy.
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Story by Deb Lobey
Oral History Project
Sources
- Calder, Bill. An Historical Tour of Old Florence. [publication unknown].
- Mood, George – Image Credit (Motel-Hotel Ragan) April 1, 1967.
- The Eugene Guard.
Lee Ragan, Good Citizen. 7 Dec 1945, Pg. 6.
Bus Agency Locates at Florence [Ragan] Hotel. 31 July 1961. Pg. 3. - The Register-Guard, Eugene.
Florence Businessman Howard Ragan Dies. 17 September 1993. Pg. 3B.
Leo Ragan, W. Lane Hotelman, Dies at Toledo. - The Siuslaw News.
Longtime Civic Leader Howard Ragan Dies. 23 September 1993.
Ragan Motel Sold Ending 38 Year Family Business. 19 August 1976. Pg 8-A.
Ragans Recall 50 Years of Fond Memories. 5 December 1984. - The World (Coos Bay).
Adkins, Dinah. Ragan Reviews Florence – Its Growth, Progress and Needs.
27 September 1975. Pg 86.