Lora Locke Hotel Collection

The Lora-Locke hotel was built in 1927, and it opened for business in March 1928. The Lora-Locke was owned and created by George Howell and Otto Theis. This hotel received its name when Howell and Theis named it after their wives; “Lora” being the first name of Howell’s wife and “Locke” being the maiden name of Theis’s wife. Howell and Theis hired architects Ellis and Charles to make the plans for the building. The full expenses for the building were $350,000. Mr. and Mrs. M.W. Brown were the first managers of Lora Locke. At this point, the hotel had 115 rooms for rent. Some of the first few organizations located at the hotel were Dodge City Chamber of Commerce, Howell-Rhinehart land offices, Stevenson Drug Company, a barber shop, Vogue tailoring and cleaning shop, a coffee shop that closed in 1971, and a cigar and news stand in the hotel lobby. In 1929, a change of management occurred, and the new manager named Hal Minton was rushed out from Iowa to manage the hotel. In 1930, George Howell passed away at the age of 54. In 1932, Hal Minton resigned as manager and Mike Biggs became manager. Otto Theis passed away in 1934 at the age of 49. In 1939, the Lora-Locke Hotel was leased to a New York Company and the premiere of the movie “Dodge City” brought in a lot of sales. Celebrities such as Erroll Flynn, Aviator Charles “Lucky” Lindbergh, Ann Sheridan, Olivia DeHavilland, Alf Landon, and Arthur Capper stay at the Lora Locke during the time of the premiere. In 1978, the Lora-Locke Hotel closed due to it not being up to date with safety codes. It was going to take about $300,000 to get it up running again which put an end to the Theis family owning it all together. Bob Stith, Myron Wheaton, and George Voss bought the building in July of 1983. In 1984, it reopened and with it was a restaurant, club, 19 suites, and 35 guest rooms. Shops in the new renovated hotel were U.S. Navy recruitment office, Associates Financial Services, and a radio office. In 1987, Lora-Locke was bankrupted and was taken over by Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. A year later, it was auctioned off to a Municipal Leasing Corporation and was turned into office buildings for Ford County.