Saturday's Internet Edition, 12:13 PM, July 31, 2010.
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| The Taylor Motel as it is today. Renovated yet with the same look and charm as in 1915. |
- Looking at the Taylor Motel now you would never believe it was the second motel built in Van Horn, in 1915! That’s because it was purchased in 2003 by Jose and Oliria Martinez and gradually but thoroughly they have been restoring the historic motel to an attractive and quaint place and keeping with the motor court look of the days that put Van Horn on the map as a ‘haven on the highways’.
The restoration process is over 50 percent complete, with mainly the west wing of the U-shaped layout of the motel remaining. Even the building behind the office which houses the laundry and housekeeping area is receiving the same facelift as the rooms.
The rooms are rented by the night, but they also offer weekly and monthly rental, since much of their business comes from commercial customers who are in town for more extended stays.
The original name of the motel was Westside Camp. Following is a brief history of the motel business in the early days of Van Horn from Rosa Lee Wylie’s book - History of Van Horn and Culberson County.
“Van Horn has had more motels than any town of its size. The first one to be built was the Toolen Camp, which was built in 1915 when the Highway was on the north. It crossed the R.R. tracks at Wildhorse and came into town just about where the rodeo arena is now, then came down Crockett Street and turned west at the McVay Cactus Station on West Front Street, north of the railroad track. After the highway changed to the south side, it was turned into an apartment house most of it is torn down now.
“The second camp was built by Ernest Taylor and was called West Side Camp (the name later being changed to Taylor Motel). It was located in the west part of town on the old highway. The 18-cabin court was moved to the south side of the tracks in 1932. When Ernest Taylor became distributor for the Standard Oil Co. the camp was operated by Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton. In 1960 it was bought by Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Irchorst of El Paso. A trailer was added to the business.
“Around 1926-27 Mr. McVay built a filling station on Highway 80 west, and then added a garage. Later they built cavins for a motel and have added to them from time to time, until the present structure was completed.
“In 1941 the Jackson Motel was built where the Central Hotel stood. It was built with the rooms upstairs and places for the car accommodations downstairs, underneath the rooms. Mrs. Jackson had her living quarters on the north side and the office was in a small room on the front of the property. Since her death in 1954 it has been vacant. But the living quarters are still in use.
“In 1935 Mr. and Mrs. D. Salvage built the El Royale courts. It has changed hands many times since. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson owned it for a short time. Then Mr. and Mrs. Langdon owned it next and sold to E.J. Denny. W.T. Wimberly had it for a short time, selling to Mr. and Mrs. Richardson and son,Don. It was also owned by Mr. and Mrs. Hartson and Mr. and Mrs. Jimmy Snyder. It is now owned by Troy Greaves and Mr. C.S. McDonald. This motel has twenty-one units and was at one time one of the largest in town.
“In 1947 Mr. and Mrs. C.G. Ellingboe built a motel known as the Ranch Motel, also has been known as the Flying W Ranch. They operated it until October 1950 and sold to Mr. and Mrs. S.L. Willard. They in turn sold to Mr. and Mrs. Jimmy Snyder and Mrs. George Sadler, who are the present owners.
“Mrs. W.P. Hurt and Presley built the Village Courts on Highway 80 west in 1941. The court consisted of 13 units, which made a little Village and an office. In January 1964 Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Allen bought the court and in October they converted one unit into a café. In 1966 they began remodeling the court and have torn down each individual house and made one continuous building of eight rooms.
“In 1949-50 Mr. and Mrs. Evans Burnett and Mr. and Mrs. A.A. Brune built the Western Lodge on Highway 80 west. They had 33 large family units, with tub and shower combination, a telepho9ne in each room and complete wall-to-wall carpeting and vented heat. They also added a heated swimming pool. They also bought the Holiday Hills Motel and restaurant.
“In November 1952 Mr. and Mrs. Jarvis Benton built the Sun Valley Motel. The building was built in a semi-circle, heated by panel ray heat and each unit was individually air-conditioned. It was purchased by Mrs. Georgia Walker in December 1955
“In April 1060 the Sands Motel was opened on Highway 80 east. It was built by Ken Holmes and leased to Mr. and Mrs. Hal Stribling. This was a 17-unit structure, all rooms were furnished with modern-style dark walnut furniture and had electric cooling and heating units. The motel was constructed of native rock coming from a quarry in east Culberson County on the Banky Stocks ranch.
“Mr. and Mrs. Ross Mitchell built the Bell Motel in the east part of town on Highway 80. Later the Mitchells and Ken Holmes and Wayne Jackson built the Ramada Inn Roadside Hotel, which is a 60-unit structure with a restaurant, beauty parlor and barber shop in connection with it, also a swimming pool. This was opened January 1964.
“The Holiday Inn had its opening October 1970. It is a 100-unit building on Highway 80 west. There is also a restaurant in connection with it, and a capacity for 200 people. There are 40 employees. At present Mr. and Mrs. Gene Van Horn are the managers.”
Since Rosa Lee completed her book in 1973 there have been several other motels built in Van Horn, mainly chain motels with nationally recognized names: Motel 6, Super 8, Comfort Inn, Hampton Inn. The motels in Van Horn have been joined by several RV Parks to accommodate the traveling public.
So yes, back to the early days of Van Horn, it has, and continues to be until now, a “Haven on the Highways.” Even before there were automobiles this was a watering place for the railroad. And then there are the gas stations, restaurants and truck stops. Where would Van Horn be without the tourist industry? We are blessed to be on a strategic spot on Interstate 10/20 and it definitely is where our ‘bread is buttered’.
Rainwater Harvesting seminar set for tonight
The Texas AgriLife Extension Service will be hosting a “Harvesting Rainwater with Rain Barrels” seminar this evening at the County Courthouse.
The seminar, being conducted by Gary Bryant, program specialist for water programs in Fort Stockton, will feature everything one needs to know about the subject of rainwater harvesting to include making the rain barrels.
The program is free and begins at 6 p.m. this eveninig at the County Courthouse. If you have any questions, contact the AgriLife Extension office here at 432.283.8440.
Please take notice!
The Van Horn Advocate will not publish an issue on Thursday, August 5, 2010.
We’ll be combining that issue with next week’s July 29th issue.
The reason for skipping the August 5th issue is so that we may attend the wedding of my niece in Fredericksburg,
We hope you will understand and we will get back on our weekly publication schedule with the August 12th issue.
Column One
By Dawn Simpson
Jose and Oliria Martinez are certainly to be commended for the way they have taken an old historic business and made it into the attractive spot on our main street that it is today. I have always admired anyone who has the vision to see what our older structures in town can be with a little work, well actually I guess it’s a lot of work, as I’m sure they would tell you. Of course it takes money also and the neat thing about this project for them is that they have made it a ‘pay as you go’ renovation. Thanks to the Martinez family for showing us what can be accomplished with work, patience, and a vision. The Taylor Motel is now again an asset to Van Horn and something we can be proud of.
We know something of what is involved in renovating an older structure. If you’ve been by our house lately you can see that it has a totally new look. Being one of those cinder block structures and an old one at that, the stucco finish was way over due for a complete makeover, not just a new coat of paint. We decided to go with a synthetic stucco after Jeff’s researching it and recommendation. The brand we used was called DryVit. It certainly lived up to its claim of total coverage. Of course Jeff had to totally overhaul a few of the really bad spots and every bad piece of wood trim had to be restored or replaced. There’s not a crack to be seen, and it has an elastic element in it that causes it to expand with the blocks. Rudy Tarango did the application and we were impressed with his dedication to getting it right. I was especially appreciative of the extra caution he took with the plants and shrubs all around the house. It could have meant disaster for them if not for his care even ‘beyond the call of duty’. Thanks again, Rudy and Angel.
Although the finish is complete there is a huge long list of things now to finish like the trim and doors, etc. Jeff believes in restoring, not covering over to make it look good for now. So under his meticulous skill it will someday be like a new house, but with the charm that Mr. T.A. Parker intended it to have when he built it in the mid-40s.
I just hope we’re not in trouble with my family when they see what we’ve done. After all, that was Granny & Pop’s house! The white house with the red tile roof is no longer there. Somehow I think my Mother and Daddy would be pleased to see how it looks today, even with the front fence down! ( My goodness, did we go too far?) If my family is reading this now don’t get too upset until you have seen it. At least we have a yard that Granny would be so proud of!!
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Robert and Nada Stuckey have found boxes of old pictures down at the museum. With the help of Pete Torres and Heradio Luna they are trying to identify faces and events that the photos represent. Robert brought one in this week of a plane that had crashed, but there was no information as to when or where the crash was. We were able to find out the information by looking in the 1959 issue of the Advocate. I had remembered seeing the story recently when I was looking for something else. The crash took place on Signal Peak in the Guadalupe Mountains and involved two young men from Arizona.
They told me that they had also seen a picture of our house when Mr. Parker had just finished building it. You might drop by the museum and take a look through some of the history of Van Horn and the people who have lived here. Pete and Heradio are a wealth of information when it comes to happenings and faces from Van Horn’s past. They have been helping identify subjects in the old pictures. We’re fortunate to have them here, as we are the Stuckeys for the many, many hours they volunteer to the museum. Thanks to all of you!
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Our Congressman, Ciro Rodriguez, made national news last week. However it wasn’t in a very favorable way. He was holding a get-together with constituents at a restaurant. He was asked questions about why he supported Obama’s Health Care legislation. Unfortunately, he like other politicians recently, lost his cool. Rather than me tell you about it, you can go to this web site and see it for yourself – www.cansecoforcongress.com. His reactions were totally out of line. And to think that we pay his salary!
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
July 22nd - Nothing scheduled at press time.
July 23rd - Nothing scheduled at press time.
July 24th - Nothing scheduled at press time.
July 25th - Attend the church of your choice today.
July 26th - Members of the Van Horn Lions CLub are scheduled to meet this evening at 7 p.m.
July 27th - The Van Horn Rotary Club will meet today at noon at Chuy’s Restaurant.
July 28th - Nothing scheduled at press time.