VALE (AP) — A nickel would put a roof over your head for the night at the Vale Hotel when it was constructed in 1908. Years of repairs from fundraising, grants and labor have been devoted to restoring the hotel and an adjacent structure, the Grand Opera House, built in 1895.

Both buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the owner and Vale mayor-elect, Mike McLaughlin, says he believes the work was worth the time and effort.

“These two projects are definitely worth saving,” he said. “This is our historical district right here, and we should preserve it.”

In 1994, McLaughlin acquired the buildings from the city, which assumed ownership and the debt incurred from a poorly administered grant, he said.

McLaughlin convinced the city the structures should not become a parking lot.

For more than a decade, McLaughlin has worked for the buildings’ restoration with help from the Drexel H. Foundation.

“Although I do own the buildings, we work really closely together. The foundation is the avenue we’ve used to raise money and fix up the buildings,” McLaughlin said.

The nonprofit Drexel H. Foundation was created to preserve the buildings to create an art center to promote youth and family programs. Investments of labor, materials and volunteers have been used to match various grants.

This year, the floors of the Grand Opera House were sanded and restored, stucco on an interior wall and original tin ceiling tiles were repaired and work on the roof was completed. Hotel rooms were fixed up.

“It’s hard to see how much work we’ve done,” McLaughlin said inside the hotel. “I always make the joke: I have one of everything at Olsen Lumber (& Paint Co., Vale) in here.”

The restoration is an ongoing process, he said, and a grant from the Oregon Cultural Trust will help provide heating and cooling.

“We had to save the buildings from structural defects. ... Now we get to do the exciting stuff,” McLaughlin said, referring to electrical and plumbing infrastructure and finishing interior work.

“It’s getting there, but we’ve got a long ways to go.”