Richard Hyatt: It's time to revive the Ralston

Oscar Betts Jr. never went to war, but as the manager of the Ralston Hotel he made sure troops got to work on time.

If their boots needed polishing, he kept the shoeshine stand open day and night. If a soldier and his girlfriend wanted to get married, Betts got them a marriage license and bought them a bouquet from the hotel flower shop.

During World War II, when the hotel was housing more brass than the Pentagon, Betts was sometimes privy to top-secret information about troops leaving Fort Benning on their way to a faraway front.

"Fort Benning would call the hotel and tell us they needed to reserve rooms for a group of railroad people. We would know something was up because you didn't just get a dozen conductors and engineers in town every night of the week," Betts said.

Betts ran the Ralston from 1935 to 1962. He passed away in 1998 and the hotel died of natural causes in 1975 after doing business on 12th Street for 61 years.

In its day, it was the heart of the city. It was blocks from the train station and the business district. Civic clubs were founded there and during the football season the Quarterback Club brought to town big-name coaches and All-American players. If the governor or a U.S. senator was in town, he checked into the Ralston, and if there was a hotty toddy social event on the calendar, it was probably held in the Mirror Room.

Local businessman J. Ralston Cargill built the Ralston in 1914 during an important era in the growth of the city. For years to come the hotel was the place where families celebrated landmark events and where politicians shook voters' hands.

People like Oscar Betts Jr. would break down and cry if they saw that old place today. It shut its doors as a hotel in 1975 and was turned into housing for senior citizens. The building celebrated its 100th birthday last year and nobody cared.

The neighborhood that surrounds that corner has rediscovered itself, but the Ralston has turned into a nine-story eyesore. The building was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 but nothing about it today needs to be preserved.

If those walls could talk, they would say do something, please.

-- Richard Hyatt is an independent correspondent. Reach him at hyatt31906@knology.net.

This story was originally published May 9, 2015 at 7:31 PM with the headline "Richard Hyatt: It's time to revive the Ralston."