Route 1’s Intangible Heritage: The Lost Motels of College Park

Meredith GorresHISP 710/711- HISP Final ProjectMay 2014

Table of Contents

• Problem Statement

• Research Questions

• Methodology

• Project Details

• Conclusions

Preservation Problem

Why and how should the

memory of College Park’s lost

tourist camps and motels be

preserved?

Research Questions• What was the historical timeline of each of

the tourist camps and motels?

• What contributed to their downfall?

• How did their owners adapt or fail to adapt to the changing needs of tourists?

• Why should their memory be preserved?

• How should this information be presented to the public?

Methodology

• Site visits

• Primary and secondary source research

• Oral interviews

Study Area

• Hunter’s Old Spring Tourist Camp• Lord Calvert Hotel & Cottages

• Long’s Motel• Shady Grove Motel

• Haass Haven/College Park Motel• William H. Schrom’s Tourist Cabins

• Royal Pine Tourist Court• Hillcrest Motor Court• Park Lane Motel

• House in the Tree Motel• Justa Tourist Camp/Stewart’s Modern Brick Cottages

• Colonial Plaza Motel and Dormitories• Cherry Hill Campcity

• Canary Cottages and Trailer Park• Del Haven White House Cottages

List of Establishments

Larger Trends

• Lack of interest in up-and-coming generation

• Referral, franchise, and chain hotels

• Construction of the interstate highway system

• Construction of the Capital Beltway in the 1950s and 1960s

• Industry changes

• Growth of the University of Maryland

• Self-redevelopment

Specific Factors

Intangible Heritage

• Gone does not mean unimportant

• What is not there at least as important as what is

• Where we came from

• How we got to where we are

• Where are we going?

Case Studies

Case Study #1: Justa Tourist Camp/Stewart’s Modern Brick Cottages

1940 Franklin Atlas

• Purchased by John and Irene Stewart in 1923

• Originally known as Justa Tourist Camp

• Offered cabins, rooms, breakfast, and lunch, and featured a Standard service station

Case Study #1: Justa Tourist Camp/Stewart’s Modern Brick Cottages• Cabins• Rooms• Good food• Air conditioning• Heat (most

likely steam)• Private baths• Heated garages• Esso service

station• Restaurant on

premises that served home-cooked food

Case Study #1: Justa Tourist Camp/Stewart’s Modern Brick Cottages• Property (about

18 acres) sold to State Roads Commission of Maryland in 1963

• University Blvd. intended location of Capital Beltway exit

• Ramps pushed north, requiring Stewart’s to sell their property

Case Study #2: Royal Pine Tourist Court• Built by George

Siebens in the early 1940s

• Originally contained 10 units connected by garages

• Importance of housing the automobile

• Southwestern appearance

• Automobile roadside as unsettled frontier

• Civilizing the roadside

Case Study #2: Royal Pine Tourist Court

Left: 1975 adRight: 1980-81 ad

• 1957- Felix Irwin gave his son-in-law and daughter, Ed and Jeanette Sims, the down payment on the Royal Pine

• Transformation by Sims into a highly-reputable Best Western motel

Case Study #2: Royal Pine Tourist Court• Motel’s capacity

increased to 115 units from 1960s-70s

• Four additions

• Garages and southwestern embellishment removed during first renovation

• Former garage space connected to the adjoining motel room, creating larger family units

Case Study #2: Royal Pine Tourist Court

Site plan, courtesy of College Park Code Enforcement

• Final, 3-story, 90-room addition in 1977

• Relocation of the main house to the rear of the property

Case Study #2: Royal Pine Tourist Court

Photo from ramada.com

Photo by Meredith Gorres, 2013

Reasons for Success• Passed on to interested members of next

generation

• Membership in Best Western referral chain

• The University of Maryland

• Construction of the Capital Beltway and University Boulevard

• Area’s economic growth

• Proximity to Washington, D.C.

Preservation Justification

• Motels part of narrative of growing dependence on the automobile

• Integral aspect of College Park’s development

• Evolution of roadside lodging in College Park follows on a smaller scale the nationwide trend from camps to motels to hotels

Options for Interpretation• Brochure

• Driving tour

• Historypin

• Interpretive panel(s)

• iPhone app

• Public presentations

Conclusions

• College Park’s motels as a microcosm

• Factors detrimental to some but advantageous to others

• Right mix of factors led to success

• Case studies embody two main reasons for decline of motels

Dr. Dennis J. PogueChristine Henry

Aaron MarcavitchSusan Pearl

Doug McElrathCity of College Park

MNCPPC

Acknowledgements

Thank you!

Any questions?