Arena (Wilson) McLean: Hotelier

Arena (Wilson) McLean, abt. 1885

 Great-grandmother Arena Wilson (August 9, 1852-December 9, 1926) probably married to get away from home. She was just three months past her sixteenth birthday when she married Warren McLean (September 15, 1847-June 6, 1893). Warren had just turned 21.

Arena was the oldest of Andrew Jackson Wilson and Mary Jane Rambo’s nine children. The youngest child, William, was only seven months old when Mary Jane died at the age of 39. Arena probably saw the writing on the wall: As the oldest child and daughter, she would be expected to take care of her eight siblings. To a 16-year-old, marrying Warren McLean might have seemed not just romantic, but practical. It was a practical move for Warren, too, as his father-in-law, who owned and operated his own bluebird pottery, took on Warren as an apprentice.

If Arena meant to get away from caring for a lot of children, marriage might not have been the best choice; she and Warren had ten children between 1871-1890. However, being the eldest in a large family, and having a large family of one’s own likely honed Arena’s domestic skills. These skills—cooking, baking, washing, cleaning, and being a general care-taker and possible manager of other people—would have equipped Arena for running a boardinghouse. However, Arena had ambitions beyond taking a few boarders into her home. She wanted to build and operate a proper hotel.

Advertisement in Crooksville directory, 1912

When the desire to own and manage her own hotel took hold of Arena will never be known. My cousin says that she helped her mother-in-law, Maxa Ann (Lenhart) McLean run a boardinghouse in White Cottage, and that Maxa deeded her the house. To-date, I’ve found no definitive confirmation for that, although, in the 1900 U.S. census, Arena was living in White Cottage and calling herself a hotel-keeper. Warren had died seven years earlier, leaving Arena to fend for herself and four children aged twelve years old and under.

In 1906, Arena purchased two adjacent town lots in Crooksville, Perry County, Ohio (just up the road from White Cottage). Two years later she and her son Edward purchased one town lot and an adjoining 8/10 acre of land. Edward was a brickmason and a contractor, so this would have been a mutually advantageous arrangement. Edward got to build a large brick edifice that would advertise his skill, and his mother got a hotel made (most likely) to her specifications.

The McLean Hotel under construction. Arena's son, Edward, is 3rd from left.

Arena ran the two-story McLean Hotel on China and Mill  Streets in Crooksville until 1923. She often housed family members in the sizable building, and many of her modern-day descendants recall hearing about life in and around Arena McLean’s hotel. My father remembered his grandmother as a great pie baker. He told me he'd often bicycle the 3.5 miles from Roseville to Crooksville after school to visit her and be treated to a slice of one of her wonderful pies. When she sold the hotel, Arena moved to Columbus and lived with her youngest daughter, Maxie Jane (McLean) Clark until her death.

Arena stands in the side yard of the hotel with her grandaughter
Vivian Miller (left) and and unidentified woman who is possibly
a member of Arena's family. Photo taken abt. 1915.

Arena (Wilson) McLean is interred in the Crooksville Cemetery. According to my cousin, she had been convinced by a salesman that being “an important person in town”, she should purchase a niche in the newly constructed mausoleum there. Lest you think pride led to Arena’s choice of a final resting place, an alternate family story says she made the choice for religious reasons. At some point, Arena and at least one of her brothers became Jehovah’s Witnesses who believe the virtuous dead will be resurrected bodily at the Second Coming. It made sense that if you were interred above ground, your resurrection would be accomplished more quickly and efficiently. Arena was practical to the end.

Arena sits proudly with her children for a reunion photo taken in the backyard of
the hotel in the summer of 1914. The portrait on the left is of a son who couldn't
attend the reunion, and on the right is Arena's deceased husband, Warren McLean.

The McLean Hotel building in 2019.
It's been made into low rent apartments.