OTHELLO - Tucked away on the corner of Larch Street and Broadway Avenue, sits one of the oldest buildings in Othello.

The building housing The Old Hotel Art Gallery turns 100 in 2011. The former 15-room hotel-turned-art-gallery-and-history-museum, started with the railroad, which used to run near the building.

"We're the only existing railroad-associated structure in the area ... That's what made this town was when the railroad came through," director Sally Laufer said. "It began being built in 1911 and then it was completed in 1912."

Eva Edmiston had the hotel built after buying the lot for $156 from the railroad. Originally painted gray, the wood clapboard siding is still on the building underneath the fake brick and stucco added in later years.

"Back in the beginning, they didn't have any electricity, so the railroad hired young boys from high school to come and wake up the employees," Laufer said. "Others then would come in and go to bed from another shift."

When the hotel was wired for electricity, Laufer said each of the rooms was equipped with a single light bulb hanging from a wire with a pull string.

"Then in later years it was rewired, so you'd have these switches on the wall," she said. "The hotel only had two bathrooms - one downstairs and one upstairs - and we had a kitchen. The kitchen is still in existence and we've had several people rent it for a small cafe, but they just couldn't make enough to make a living."

In the time it was a hotel, it went through 10 owners, starting with Edmiston, who bought the building twice. Along with housing railroad workers, it also housed a school teacher, a clerk and a young married couple, according to the museum's history. Its last owner, B.D. Curry, bought the hotel in 1964, but never finished paying for it.

"Right before the hotel closed as being a hotel, there was a fellow murdered here," she said. "The owner of the hotel at that time was the one that shot the person ... He went to prison, that's the reason the group from the town were able to acquire the hotel for back taxes. So this had a very interesting and sordid past ... When the murder happened, it was a house of ill repute."

A group of Othello amateur artists and art lovers purchased the building roughly 36 years ago, becoming the 11th owners of building, according to the museum's history. The historical pamphlet written from the hotel's perspective describes the state of disrepair it was in when they started cleaning it up.

"To be honest, first they spent weeks clearing out trash before they could even scrub," according to the pamphlet. "I recall the day they opened the second floor windows and threw out broken stuff, rotting carpets, used clothing - even an open can of beans with a fork sticking out of it."

The hotel doesn't rent rooms any longer, Laufer said; adding people call every week attempting to make reservations.

"But we do have residents that live here - our ghosts," she said. "It's nice to have them. I had the paranormal society come and check it out to see if we did in fact have ghosts. They said we did."

The gallery's mission is to preserve Othello's history and represent artists from across the state, along with artists closer to the city, Laufer said. Tourist information is located at the hotel as well.

"People see our brown signs out on the highway and they come in for information," she said.

Since starting the gallery, several items have been added to the motel, including a 1946 Milwaukee Road Caboose. The caboose was purchased by a group of Othello-area residents, who wanted to preserve the history of the railroad.

"They have since, with donations, refurbished the interior of the caboose and we have panels with pictures and stories of the history," she said. "

Three artists recently completed a bottle wall. The wall, constructed from wine bottles mortared together by concrete, sits near the caboose.

"We've called it a wishing bottle wall, where you come, you write your wish or your prayer on a piece of paper and roll it up and put it inside of a bottle," Laufer said. "It will be preserved there forever, or until the wall falls down."

Othello master gardeners planted a drought-tolerant demonstration garden as well, she said.

"This complex is a community effort," she said. "All of these donations that we're getting, they are donations. It's the community's way of supporting us."

The community can continue to support the museum by coming to its 33rd annual auction on Oct. 22, Laufer said. The event starts at 6 p.m. at Othello Evergreen Implement, located at 1415 S. First Ave.

A silent auction starts off the event. A dinner of tri-tip beef and side dishes starts at 7 p.m. The live auction begins at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $20. The auction is the gallery's main fundraiser for the year.

"It helps us stay in existence," she said. "We're a non-profit art gallery ... With a facility this size, it takes money to run the operation - the insurance, taxes, utilities, all of the basic things."

The items for the auction range from tickets to the Central Basin Community Concert series to lift tickets, Laufer said. The auction usually brings in between $12,000 and $14,000.

"I just got in this trip to Lake Chelan for a weekend at Campbell's Resort, and also included in that package are Lady of the Lake tickets," she said. "We have pieces of art. We have a few antiques. We have a dinner for eight that can be delivered to your home."

Along with the auction the gallery has found other supporters such as the Rotary Club, Evergreen Implement and other corporations and groups, Laufer said.

"They donated to keep us afloat," she said. "There are some times when I wonder whether we're going to be able to keep the doors open, and then people rally around and then we're able to do it a while longer."