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Cactus Motor Lodge / RV Park
1316 E. Route 66, Tucumcari, NM
Phone:
The Cactus Motor Lodge has crumbled into the dust. It was last called
the Cactus RV Park was built in the late 1930s or very early 1940s, by
Pat Perry. He added two sections after World War II before selling it
in 1952.
The new owner, Norman Wegner, added the manufactured stone to the exterior
of the lodge and changed the name to Cactus Motel. Wegner operated the
motel until selling to Harry and Jean Schiermeyer in 1972.
The Schiermeyers only stayed about four years before selling the motel
to Frank and Elizabeth Kocab in 1976.
The Kocabs sold the motel to Indrajit (Andy) and Sugandhi Patel in
1979. The Patels still owned the property in 2018. At different times
the motel had been part of the Friendship Inns and Best Western chain.
The long gone 1950s sign shown above originally said MOTEL where it
says RV Park.
In 1953 the motel was listed in the Negro Motorist Green Book a travel
guide for Black travelers.
Except for the small (newer)section at the far left in this photo this
was the original Cactus Motor Lodge. The original office was located
in the front unit in this building. The Cactus Court was placed on the
National Register of Historic Places in 2006 and the sign was restored
in 2008.
The
first expansion of the Motor Lodge included the back section of rooms
that ran east and west. See the gap between the single room of the left
in this photo, that was a pair of garages that were removed to make
room for driveway when the place was converted to an RV park. I'm guessing
this building arrived after 1952 because it doesn't have the manufactured
stone exterior that was installed on the two older buildings that year.
What
I suspect was a second addition to the lodge includes this double bungalow
style set of two units separated by garages and a small corner section
connecting the two earlier buildings were just stuccoed on the exterior.
It seems like most references I've seen include this in the earlier
addition of the south wing. I wonder about that timing because the designs
don't match and this building doesn't have the manufactured stone applied
to the front.
The
"new" office and owner/managers quarters was located in the
adjacent former dance hall.
Sometime
after the motel closed in the 1990's the courtyard was converted to
an RV park and the place reopened as the Cactus RV Park. At one time
their had been a swimming pool in in the courtyard which was filled
in or removed around 1980.
Even though the property was listed on the National Register of Historic
Place it was sold in 2018 and torn down to make room for an O'Reilly
Auto Parts store. So much for preservation of historic landmarks. The
sign was removed and sold to a collector.
Photo(s): 2012, 2019
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