Grants Pass, located on the California-Oregon trail in the Rogue River Valley, was founded as the direct result of the extension of the Oregon & California Railroad south from Roseburg. The first locomotive entered the valley in early December 1883.

By 1884, Grants Pass supported four roughly built wooden hotels near the depot. The Josephine Hotel, built of brick in 1893, was the first "fireproof" hotel in Grants Pass.

The Josephine Hotel included at least one sample room on the first floor. Traveling salesmen, known as drummers, arrived by train with large sample cases to drum up business. Hotels offered sample rooms and provided wagons to move baggage from the depot to the hotel. Salesmen set up their goods and invited merchants to stop by and view their products, often offering refreshments and other enticements to attract new clientele.

In 1905, with the growth of the Grants Pass area, the sample rooms within the main hotel had become inadequate and the annex was built.

In the early 1970s, the Hotel Josephine was condemned for code violations. The hotel was destroyed by fire in 1975. The annex survived and is one of only two buildings of its kind remaining in the area.

Adapted from the NRHP nomination submitted in 1997.

Cash for the merchandise, cash for the button hooks
Cash for the cotton goods, cash for the hard goods
Cash for the fancy goods
Cash for the noggins and the piggins and the frikins
Cash for the hogshead, cask and demijohn.
Cash for the crackers and the pickles and the flypaper.

Look whatayatalk, whatayatalk, whatayatalk, whatayatalk, whatayatalk?
Wheredayagitit?
Whatayatalk?

Ya can talk, ya can talk, ya can bicker, ya can talk,
ya can bicker, bicker, bicker, ya can talk, ya can talk,
ya can talk, talk, talk, talk, bicker, bicker, bicker,
ya can talk all ya want but is different than it was.

No it ain't, no it ain't, but you gotta know the territory....

Rock Island from The Music Man: Book, music and lyrics by Meredith Willson