101 Motel

Built in the 1920s


STewards of yesterday

Motel 101

In the 1920s, Frank Hart built his home on this site and set up a row of tent-top cabins nearby, creating a quiet little retreat he called Hart’s Content. He and his wife, Maggie, eventually built three sturdier cabins and later sold the property. In 1945, it passed to Lloyd L. Thomas, who renamed it Thomas Court No. 2. Later that same year, Floyd and Grace Annis took ownership and expanded the number of units, growing the small lodging into a proper roadside motel.

  • Hart's Content, Oregon: buildings and railroad tracks in a wooded setting.

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  • Motel with cars parked outside, trees and a mountain in the background.

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  • Black and white photo of the Hi-Way Motel in Rockaway, Oregon. A one-story motel with a sign.

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  • White motel with a red sign, surrounded by a gravel parking lot under a clear blue sky.

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  • Orange food truck and house in gravel lot next to a road, surrounded by green hills and blue sky.

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Meanwhile, on the north side of the property, Hans and Anna Christensen added more units in 1946. After Hans passed away in 1951, Anna continued operating the motel herself, greeting guests, managing bookings, and keeping the business running for more than two decades. In 1977, she sold the property to Dorene Pyshny and went to live with her son, Ken Christensen, who would later serve as Rockaway’s mayor.

In more recent years, Maureen and Jeff Taylor purchased the property in 2001 and faithfully managed it as the Sea Haven Motel until selling in 2020. Today, the Sea Haven continues to welcome visitors, now operated under the care of iTrip Northwest—still a place of rest at the edge of sea and sky, just as Frank Hart first imagined nearly a century ago.


Postcard from August 2nd, 1914 addressed to Miss Winnie King, Corvallis Oregon:


Sunday

Am being royally entertained here, the photo is our tent house. Leave at 8:20 in the morning. Will also stop over to see Mother & Cousins in Portland, visit Corvallis Tues P-M.

Hiram

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