Motels
There were roadside inns along the crude roads of colonial America, and in many cases communities grew up around them. Later, as the country expanded, stage coach stops were needed to stable horses and change the teams when necessary. These sometimes offered accommodations to travelers as well. But for the most part hotels were located in the center of towns and cities. When the automobile was born there were no roadside stops for overnight rest, many early automobile enthusiasts became camping enthusiasts as well. This led to the establishment of auto camps, where motorists were offered a place to park and camp for the night, sleeping in their vehicle, a tent, or under the stars.
Small roadside auto lodges came next, offering a collection of small cabins, some with bathrooms and some offering a communal shower room. Most of these were alongside the main roads of the day, such as the Lincoln or Dixie Highway, and often reflected a theme based on the area in which they were located. Quality and amenities offered varied widely, and even as late as the 1940s a traveler could not be aware of what he was getting into unless they or someone they knew had been there before. Some roadside motels became famous nationally but most were adventures into the unknown.
Motor courts and auto lodges were all that was available outside of towns as late as the 1950s, when the post war boom in the economy and the auto industry led to more traveling by car than ever before. With the release of wartime rationing of gasoline and the growth of young families the idea of vacationing by car took hold. Business travel by car increased as well. The motor courts and auto lodges were incapable of handling the traffic, and many motorists demanded better than what they found when they visited them.
The motel chain began with Holiday Inn, when its founder picked the sight for his first motel on the main highway between Memphis and Nashville. The next motels were built on other roads which approached Memphis from other directions. When the chain expanded to other cities it followed the same scenario, ensuring their properties were seen by motorists prior to arriving at the town’s center, where competitor’s hotels stood. It wasn’t long before the success of the venture was noted by others, and more motel chains were developed, just outside of an area’s business center, accommodating the automobile as much as the traveler it conveyed.
When the interstate highway system was developed the on and off ramps of intersecting major roads were immediately seen as prime locations for motels and the motor courts and auto lodges became a thing of the past. Many still exist in business along the older US highways, and many more can be found standing empty and abandoned. The motels which straddle the interstate highway system and employ nearly a quarter of a million workers were developed to accommodate the automobile, and likely would not exist had it not been for the American love affair with its cars.