Motel Builders of the Modern West

Abstract

In his “Easy Chair” column in the September 1953 issue of Harper's magazine, Utah native son Bernard DeVoto reported on a newly popular form of lodging growing up all over the West—the motel. To him the word motel was an “awkward word, a coinage out of the folksiness that named the suburb's Kan-di-Korner,” but for the motorist it had conveniences that made it superior to a hotel. DeVoto dubbed the motel “the highway's hotel,” a boon to the motorist who wanted nothing to do with tipping bellboys or crowded lobbies but preferred to carry in his own bags to his spacious air-conditioned room.1 According to DeVoto, motels and their towns sprouted like mushrooms along the highways of the West.DeVoto's commentary is valuable for his accurate description and the signal it sent: motels were here to stay. They were everywhere in the West, along the edges of the highways and lining the town sidewalks. As DeVoto makes clear, motels offered a clean private room, along with the privacy and ease of parking right outside the door. This hybrid form of lodging replaced the old tourist cabins and courts with something new and modern, befitting the postwar era. World War II was over, and the consumer economy was heating up. American families took off in their station wagons looking for the authentic West of cowboys and Indians they saw in movie westerns. Traveling businessmen appreciated the desks, free stationery, and a telephone to the switchboard in every motel room. But the neon lights and the swimming pool were put in to attract the pleasure traveler who chose the motel while driving through what DeVoto dubbed “Motel Town.”The advent of the motel and its impact on Utah and the Mountain West was more complicated than DeVoto suspected. The building of motels at mid-century was spurred by the expansion of the highways and robust consumer spending but could not have taken place without the investment of capital and labor in the family motel business. Three Utah men played prominent roles in the growth of the motel industry in Utah and the Intermountain West: Ray Knell of Cedar City, Bentley Mitchell of Logan, and Ken Orton of Salt Lake City and Phoenix. All three were actively involved in creating business associations that set up the scaffolding for an extensive western hospitality network. The regional lodging associations were a crucial step in the metamorphosis of the lodging industry from small, family-owned motels to the later dominance of the nationwide motel chains like Holiday Inn.These three men helped enable the rapid growth of the motel industry in the modern West by founding affiliate organizations on a state, regional, and national level. For the motel entrepreneurs the organizations created networks of friendship that insulated the owners from the uncertainties of expansion in an era of ascendant Fordism.2 In the postwar era of increasing federal control, notably the expansion of the interstate highway system, the trade associations gave the owners a forum to voice their concerns. Small business associations lobbied for relief from the regulatory apparatus of federal oversight. Those associations would later become lifelines to their very existence as family-owned motels became overshadowed by the expansion of corporate lodging chains.Born in the early twentieth century and reared on farms in Utah, all three of the Utah motel entrepreneurs were embedded in a culture of market capitalism mediated by the Mormon historical experience and values. The Mormon value of cooperation, a hallmark of the faith's approach to capitalism, was reflected in the construction of the associations.3 The Utah motel men drew upon skills gained while serving as missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and through later church leadership experience. Influenced by the Mormon cooperative tradition, they formed networks of business connections to promote tourist lodging. A striking similarity among the Mormon moteliers in their religious practice and family relationships illuminates the cultures of capitalism in the Mormon culture region in Utah and beyond. By seeing the Mormon motel entrepreneurs as embedded in a culture of cooperative and competitive capitalism, we can better understand the forces shaping entrepreneurial tourism in the Intermountain West.4Utah played an important role in luring tourists to the West. Tourists to Salt Lake City on the Union Pacific Railroad in the late nineteenth century sought glimpses of the private life of polygamy, but local boosters turned their attention to the impressive architecture and birds-eye views of new parks and boulevards. Indeed, Salt Lake City was dubbed the crossroads of the West, and the “See America First” movement originated in the state's capital city. The expansion of state and federal highways across the West ushered in the automobile age, and Utah became a proving ground for roadside businesses like the motel.5The history of the distinctively American motel has generally been set within the context of highway travel. Historian Warren Belasco argues that the desire for comfort and convenience powered the tourist court mania and subsequent motel boom. While Belasco's book provides an excellent history of the genesis of tourist courts, it ends in 1945, before the postwar economic recovery gave a boost to motel construction.6 John Jakle and Keith Sculle propose that motels followed the same place-product-packaging marketing strategy as gas stations and roadside restaurants, relying heavily on branding to provide a reliable sameness to their customers.7 This story of a trio of Utah motel men demonstrates the importance of business associations in explaining the sudden rise of motels, the subject of DeVoto's 1953 essay in Harper's Magazine.8The foundation of modern tourism in the West, from highway towns to mountain canyons, began by building places for tourists to stay. The word motel was coined in San Luis Obispo, California, in 1926, but it was not commonly used as a term until the 1950s, at about the same time DeVoto brought it to the attention of his readers.9 The predecessor to the motel was the tourist court, a group of cabins around a filling station with an open court facing the highway. DeVoto did not think highly of the cabins: “A motel may be dingy or uncomfortable but at its worst it is always better than the highway's slum structures, the corn cribs and chicken coops called, offensively to our patriotic tradition, ‘Cabins.’”10 The growth of tourist lodgings in Utah followed the same pattern, of maturing from auto camp to tourist court to motel.11Motels did not “sprout” up, as DeVoto alleged, but many were built on the foundations of tourist courts already on Main Street. Courts changed their painted signs to electric neon and updated the architecture from homey to modern by building a shared roof and raised portico. Newer motels were built on either side of the highways outside town to lure tired motorists before they reached the downtown business district. The tall neon signs beckoned to the highway traveler who scanned the roadside at dusk to find a place to stay. DeVoto complained that his stay in Motel Town was often sleepless because “the whirr, hum, and flick of passenger cars continue all night.” Because of the glow of the colorful neon outlining the windows and eaves, “The tourist closes the venetian blinds, turns out the lights in his room, and may still read the Gideon Bible without eyestrain.”12 His observations help us appreciate the novelty of the both the architecture and the art form of roadside lodging.There was money to be made owning a motel in the West as tourism replaced mining and agriculture as a significant economic contributor in the mid-twentieth century. Motel net profits were reported to range from 36 percent in the late 1930s, to around 25 percent in the 1940s. The profit margins resulted from low and with on family labor and and the the motel the the of In the early the the industry trade magazine, was on the of industry percent of as net profit has reached a it attract and of were who could the labor of their and could on family for investment small, businesses became as the motels, family businesses that had a low to with the of a of Ray Knell of Cedar City the of building a motel business and associations to promote western travel. in Knell up on a in In for a in California, and his Bentley in They to Cedar City, and by the time a tourist court in they had three The along to new of construction with a for a of Knell the of a motel court the that modern of motel By the was on the of modern with its over the The with but the were very in in modern with venetian at the were with a used in was of a postwar business in Cedar City at the of automobile motels in town were to by at and The in Cedar City be to of the tourist in of the state, with a to provide excellent for a of up the of new motels and to the tourists driving the highways to the national City was the to and parks and the In the early twentieth tourists took the to the town the Utah by to the the advent of automobile the of a to the tourist The to the not the To to “the they in and they and for their to money from Knell the of and owners of the in to his on the side of the motel The Cedar City of a the town as the to the Utah a of and tourist courts the tourist of was an early of the The history of as the with his and in of In was not by but by a group of men Knell and John both from The motel men the for at a of the Courts in in or They were that Courts in was in its and that “the it offered were the group of entrepreneurs the and of and comfort in an era of in the motel was a boon to motel owners who wanted to to a motel of A at motel could the to a at motel for This was a valuable in an era were made by The the of the of western motel a for and be of the be for of the time the for but it was in creating a of motels a Knell was in on the ground of the As of a founding Knell along as as to owners to the the of in the same region to they were state and regional lodging By Knell was the and the of the Utah was the of the Utah Motel and a to promote tourism from to offered Ray and Knell the to As a of the national of of the American and his in City, and In the took a to the of at the of the to a in and to the his motel business Ray became a in Cedar to the of the 1953 of and of the Knell was a of the and the of As a the local to signs the at the and the at the brought business to Cedar City, state of motel owners and the Utah his church as a in local Mormon from until of his to his and a of his leadership was an early in the motel who his in Cedar City played an important role in and state tourism The of his and him to and the business and to better the of his was to motel and stay in a highway but his to and in trade associations had an impact on the of motels not in the state, but in the western Ray Utah motel Bentley Mitchell in his local to his in Mitchell a Latter-day to from gained a in the and became to church his Utah They in and on the family in In was to to as of the who had in as a him with their three in early Mitchell the construction of the Latter-day and a new for the in Church from Salt Lake City for the in and the was by three from as as While in Mitchell gained skills and in to his as Mitchell to than to stay on the family his to in Mitchell to a as a motel In the Mitchell Motel on the The low the and to cars up to the of their a story was A tall neon with at the with out in a the A of and modern the Mitchell Motel was of motels in along with the was in many and was an of the Utah Motel and the American In his motel Mitchell was more than a regional as of the of of the American out of City, In role sought from state on industry as the newly federal highways and the of with from owners of courts and motels from to was in the of the had at the Utah in Salt Lake City in September The in and to without a by the distinctively Mormon local the a to the Salt Lake for its and a of the city. the was a with by the of By the time they Salt Lake City, the would have had a to not Mormon culture in Utah, but Pacific as by was a founding of the a group of hospitality along from to The was at the of in in September by a group of hospitality owners of motels, and The of the was with about of the and in Utah, in and in A the of at the in Salt Lake City, a that many of the have been Utah founding in September for the of a of and the The was for the to be played in and on the the on had the of on by In the of the the was the on to the They with the on to and of in its from Utah, in to in Those the that were their and local were not new Mitchell the the to the Mitchell of built around the from of to the out to their of at the in they took through the a and a in business off by a of and all for While the businessmen and their the up the of for the and to in their of capital would be to the of by to be to But were signs of the of a of to in and the of for a movie the is but it that the in or a of and a nationwide of Bentley Mitchell may have played a in the of the was from up a new in for a local his in on with His was to their and the Bentley as was the of the Mitchell to its the motel a of business from Utah The to the of town In had at the Motel for the for an to a before their that the motel to to Indeed, to that were to by the motel the at the Motel and for the group to stay at the Mitchell they did of but by the of in the Pacific have made more to of the in provide that was a a Mitchell tourism in the a local to a group of tourists on a in with the and the and the tourists were to a and the of of the Utah and who of the put excellent that old Utah hospitality always The business of Mitchell the importance of the to the of motel Mitchell and his used the Mitchell Motel in as the for motel growth through the West. In his as an in and the Mitchell was embedded in national lodging networks that him to national in motel Indeed, his out of to his in the but his to within organizations and promote their him to within the a but on his Knell and Mitchell built their motels, Utah native John Orton his in in in Utah, his in began a Latter-day in Orton was of missionaries in all of with the of the and more The and the native and of the the was in three of His gave him valuable in and him to and they had Ken and a local business and in the of the the of the became its motels as a later by at as at old had money to a on Main Street. it for a it and later to the on By the late motels on in Salt Lake City, the and the The was a with Ray who was to his capital was to in on the ground of owning a Orton upon the of church who wanted to a to by the prominent The was a of The The a of by early church John became a of the for in its and to the Mormon son later was a family business in made the the and and helped with the and Orton to have been embedded in the of Mormon business and but had set his on a as a World War Orton was among from who the American in in was as of with the of more in to that did not motel owners to As that in to the the was to and of the that a who had than had to be offered a a that did not to In a in the Orton they to to open an in to for their Orton was in that and motels in profits because of the that they had to provide for the many and were from their was not until that the were still the importance of as a voice for motel owners was for the his The story is that the Ken to to his in a for the of have been the but more was to by the business in By had his Utah motels for a from the and a to The family to Ken the at West and it to His profits from were his hospitality business at a but more capital for a business a who was from a in a of took and formed a that the at and a in and the profits in his The in was while with his in that that the would The and put the in to over in the West. His businesses a of the World War and became as and Orton were in for the tourists who to to the motel Motel on on and motels in and But it they did not have capital to as as they in the for the the for to for to the and room, and to the and his in Orton a from of Utah, his life they had the and in early Ken to his still in a as as the is have to but have had for him the the was for the to his the court business a of more than and more to in to A they were of and of the to be to put in more the who the would have to and the they to a they were to from the the motels were took in in a percent over the to for of in the new in the The built their with the and in by from the and the the and and who a and motel in Salt Lake City, the group of would become the for their of built by In they built the at on from Orton took for the and it was as with courts and all the of a The architecture was of the motels, with open by made of by all painted in To in more a to motels and across the The to lodging with an of court, and the term from his hospitality business the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints him to as in the of his as a In late and his to of his was to better with the was in three and in increasing the of missionaries from to was in a of from the at the Orton the motel business was not as His took a from in to the family motel His to his of for profits and labor in business has off very were from for the have been and find that it is all over town but we to a to out more and to up more was to the business and did not have the to the Ken Orton an of and was from his a in Salt Lake City and to in Orton his with a hotel. In built the on A for the motel in the it of the modern a the by a swimming is by a room, room, and private a out of who had and the took out a in The the of the in the Orton and his had made the from highway motels to with and that for local organizations and private was the in at The was of a in the American West of and of the but have been by his for the of in the of Orton a his of the as son became a and the a in that took him to and The was turned over to but the families their in the until the and in the By building the motels as tourism to the owners a foundation for the growth of tourism in the to Salt Lake City to Orton to become a regional in the hospitality the to the Orton an business associations that helped him by building motels in the West. His in his experience in the growing hospitality industry in By his we better understand the highway motel gave rise to the of the story of the three Utah motel with its in the of Mitchell and Orton in us better understand the growth of motels in the West, as by The men their were in building business associations that the foundation for the automobile tourism of tourist courts and experience in church and organizations skills in the associations they and in the western They were with the motel owners from and were at business Mormon skills were put to as they up new to their own they to be to organizations they would and their church leadership they to and associations they helped a culture of capitalism that the edges of competitive The networks of state, regional, and national associations helped their in an corporate economy that was more subject to state and federal The associations were like before chains like Holiday the hospitality The organizations were not but became organizations in an era of expansion of federal business role of the of three men is more to Bentley Knell and Orton were as of their but Mitchell is to us because in the business can that were as the of motel owners their to The up for the and and The gave the a to the and The the a from the of on and for their motel were up in the local a that their in The history of their has to be but is to understand the of their motel on family labor and the capital from family networks and like life As family changed and federal highways from the motels were to in The of motels in the with in but began to by The of the era to the of the of family-owned motels, and by the early owners from chains like Holiday and The motel owners to stay and they began off motels in the early as the chains for the of who could better money at a and the of the were in the of the family-owned business. would be to that the chains motels were by their as changed who wanted to the business could do by a from a with and a highway motels have Ray who had up of to the of his motel took over the the of Knell in the was to become the by Cedar City, of the in the Utah the Mitchell Motel to as its of the motels was to the was to in The were of a of from who the motels by the and of who built in Utah, is a motel at every on and Salt Lake City, and in every town along the or a national their who motels, the on family capital and and a national business the American The of the the western lodging and its impact on Utah, is Mormon Mitchell and the for Mormon hospitality industry and the of America and America in and Utah, built his from in in the business did not until the and on the but his Utah Mormon his own business motel men in the Intermountain West created the foundation for the from family businesses to to the of Bernard DeVoto would have about the hospitality of is open for his clean his or the would have something to we were to read of his we would and our in But be to the of the mid-century highway motels at time the owners at the and their brought of to room. for old motels has spurred their motels, with their open colorful neon and convenience to tourists for an authentic in the of the old motels a of to motel towns all over the West. the tourists a while by the they a to the motel of the West.