He was born in 1892 in rural Scott County, near Waldron, and attended local public schools. When he graduated from high school, he enrolled in a business college in Fort Smith. To help pay his tuition and living expenses — and to enjoy free meals — he got a job in the dining room of a local hotel. He found he liked working in the hotel business, so when he finished school, he took a job with the Eastman Hotel in Hot Springs. There, he gained valuable experience tending to the expectations of affluent travelers who were used to the services enjoyed in the leading spas of Europe. He then moved on to employment as a clerk at what was then arguably the most exclusive hotel in Canada — the Queen's Royal Hotel in Niagara Falls, Ontario — and enhanced his education about fine hotel amenities.
In 1917, he returned to Arkansas as the assistant manager of the Marion Hotel in Little Rock. The hotel had been built in 1905 and was named for the wife of its founder, Herman Kahn. The hotel, which had branded itself as "The Meeting Place in Arkansas," was, at the time, the tallest building in the state — eight stories high. Its focus was on customer comfort and courtesy. The welcoming lobby featured lush green carpet, green bellboy uniforms and even a marble fishpond.
In 1919, he became manager of the Basin Park Hotel in Eureka Springs, one of the most popular summer resorts in the state. The owners of the Goldman Hotel in Fort Smith were so impressed with his management style, they hired him to manage their hotel.
The prosperous 1920s saw a boom in the hotel business and he took advantage: He formed Southwest Hotels Inc. and began buying Arkansas hotels. He also got married to Ruth Seaman; the couple had one daughter, Joy.
In 1929, he bought the Majestic Hotel in Hot Springs. The Majestic Lodge was then built on Lake Hamilton in 1932. He bought the Ben McGehee Hotel at Markham and Main streets in Little Rock and changed its name to his own. That hotel and the Marion — one block away — were simultaneously imploded on live TV on Feb. 17, 1980, clearing the way for the construction of Little Rock's State House Convention Center and the Excelsior Hotel (now the Marriott).
The record is not clear on the cause of the "tragic accident" on Sept. 4, 1939, that took his life — only that he drowned. His widow, Ruth, would continue to operate the company, as his daughter, Joy, did later.
The Lafayette Hotel in Little Rock had been built in 1925, only to be closed in 1933, because of the Depression. Southwest Hotels Inc. bought and remodeled it in 1941 after it had stood shuttered for eight years. In 1954, the family bought the famous Arlington Hotel on Central Avenue in Hot Springs. Ultimately the company would own 10 hotels in five states.
Who was this extraordinary hotelier, who is buried in Mount Holly Cemetery in Little Rock?