The Southern Hotel

Built 1893

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 17, 2025

1. The Southern Hotel Marker

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From the National Register Nomination prepared by Beverly Jean Clark, 10/27/1988:
The Southern Hotel is a detached building located on a corner lot. The three and one-half story building consists of two rectangular front gable sections. The larger, corner section was constructed in 1893 and the narrower south addition was added in 1902. Originally the north side of the building was faced by horizontal boards and the west side was faced by shiplap siding.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 17, 2025

2. The Southern Hotel Marker

The marker is mounted at eye level on the northwest corner of the building, facing South 5th Street.

Eventually shiplap siding covered the original frame building. It is believed that the exterior of the building was stuccoed with a spatter dash finish sometime around 1913. The base of the building on the west front and north side is faced with stone up to the level of the first floor window sills and is laid with a running bond. This alteration was probably made ca. 1940-1941, when the hotel was refurbished.
The building’s front and side gables are faced with wooden shingles that are arranged in alternating rows of square cut and fish scale patterns. The roof shape is irregular. The original building has a front gabled roof. The south addition also has a front gable and a cross gable.
The most decorative element of the building is the wood ornament on the front gables. Aside from the decorative wooden shingles there is a decorative wood pediment above the gable in the original section of the hotel. This pediment is adorned with a stylized plant design. The front gable of the original section has trim at the peak. A small quatrefoil is cut into this trim. This trim and the truss system on the porches give the hotel a Swiss Chalet appearance.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 17, 2025

3. The Southern Hotel (northwest elevation)

An icehouse and stable were associated with the hotel by 1904. In 1906, a boardwalk was added to the north side of the building and a gasoline lighting plant to light four 500 candlepower lights was installed in 1907. The stable and icehouse at the rear of the hotel burned to the ground in June of 1913.
In 1940, B. C. Benham, who was in charge of the local Continental Oil Company agency in Dolores, bought the Southern and changed the name to “Benny’s Hogan.” The building's interior was remodeled and redecorated at this time. The interior of the hotel has been altered many times since the 1940s. The hotel has been operated continuously from 1893 through 1988. It has been remodeled to meet existing health and safety standards and the public need.
The Southern Hotel, constructed in 1893, is significant in the history of Dolores, Colorado. Dolores was founded with the construction of the Rio Grande Southern Railroad between Durango, Colorado and Telluride, Colorado. The hotel, which took its name from the railroad line, was the first in Dolores and is directly across the street from the site of the original train depot. The Southern was

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built to accommodate those traveling or associated with the railroad and is representative of the businesses that were initiated to serve this means of transportation. Because of this, the Southern Hotel is significant to both the areas of commerce and transportation. The coming of the railroad in the early 1890s ushered in a new era of growth for the Dolores River Valley and provided transportation and communication between the valley and the rest of Colorado and the country. The Southern is also the oldest building in Dolores.
The first train of the Rio Grande Southern ran from Durango on January 2, 1892, and within the next few years, Dolores became one of the major stops between Durango and Rico. The train left Durango in the morning and arrived in Dolores around noon when there was a lunch stop. The afternoon train arrived around eight in the evening for an overnight stop before proceeding to Rico, Telluride or Ridgeway the next morning. The Southern Hotel is significant to the development of transportation because it represents those businesses that developed to serve the railroads and contributed to the success of the railroads. From its beginning, the Southern was the only railroad eating house between Durango and Telluride and for many years the only hotel in Dolores. At train time, the Southern Hotel became the gathering place for the townspeople, miners, and ranchers of the area where they heard the latest news from the train passengers on social, political and economic conditions around the state and country.

Excerpt:  The Southern Hotel, was built in 1893. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. It has also been known as Benny's Hogan and as the Rio Grande Southern Hotel.