Skylark Motel / VFW Post 2482

1087 N. Service Rd., St. Clair, MO 63077 Address
Phone:

East < GO > West

This is the former Skylark Motel was built in the early 1950s by the father and son team of Charlie & Robert Johnson. It was built on a hill with a tall glass-block tower so it could be seen from both the east & west, beckoning travelers.

GPS: 38.337622,-91.016792

That sign tower seems to have played a part in the naming of the motel, or at least how it was locally referrer to. A 1951 article in the local paper says the motel was nearing completion, but that a name had not been chosen yet. Several mentions in the local paper between 1951 and 1953 refer to a Tower Motel at this location or connected to the Johnson family. The earliest mention, from the time, that I've found of the name being the Skylark Motel is from 1954.

I haven't found a date for the addition of the restaurant on the east side, it not there in the postcard shown below. The motel units on the west side are shown on the postcard though, as is another, now gone, building behind the main building.

In 1974 the Johnson's sold the Skylark to Mr. & Mrs. Irving Thebeau. Fairly quickly the expanded the business operations to include sales of a variety of unrelated merchandise. By late 1975 they were apparently offering shooting matches every Sunday afternoon with various meats as prizes.

In 1977 Carol's Country Kitchen announced it's Grand Opening in the cafe portion of the building. I have no idea how long that lasted.

The VFW purchased this property in 1993. In 2014 there was a ceremony celebrating the restoration and relighting of the glass block tower and neon "Skylark" name.

This was the Johnson's second motel in St. Clair. Around 1940, or a few years earlier, Charlie & Liza Johnson built the Johnson's Mo-Tel, which consisted of a stone office and wood frame St. Louis style cabins in town on Commercial Street.

The other side of the tower carries the VFW name, also in neon. The one story part of this building was added in 1979 to house a restaurant.

In addition to several guest rooms in the main building eight more rooms with garages were available in a second building on the west side of the site. The low stucco building is now part of the St. Clair Agape House. A similar looking, but now gone, building stood behind the main building. One source mentioned a duplex the the Johnson families lived in, I wonder if that was it.

There is a very nice veterans memorial on the east side of the parking lot.

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Vintage Advertising Highlights

SKYLARK MOTEL
at St. Clair, Mo.
On U.S. Highway 66, 50 Miles SW of St. Louis
Playgrounds, TV, carports, Air-conditioned.
R. Chas, Johnson, owner - Phone 777
AMHA Affiliated Motel

NOTE: The big monument sign out front is gone, but the glass block and neon tower sign on the building is still there. AMHA stands for American Motor Hotel Association.
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Photo(s): 2016