Update: Demolished at some point after September of 2018 but before May of 2019.
This old motel, out Chesterfield Airport Road, is a mystery to me. I vaguely remember the motel being in business several years ago, but I don’t remember much about it.
I like the log cabin theme, and many motels of the mid Twentieth Century featured some sort of theme, and these log cabins might have alluded to the nearby Daniel Boone Highway.
Very vague recollection here…this motel predates WWII. During the War, it was occupied by the workers at the Weldon Spring TNT plant, as were most of the lodging places along US40 in both directions. Motels along MO 100 (Manchester), West of Clarkson Road were filled as well. I’m pretty sure this is how the trailer parks in (now) la-di-dah Chesterfield and Frontenac originated.
I did not know the motel buildings were still around – I thought they disappeared in the Flood of ’93.
OT, but it is also surprising that the trailer park along Old Chesterfiedl Road (nee US40) has survived; it’s a hug plot and has to be worth mega-millions. I guess the owner is quite stubborn.
I talked to the owner of tbe business that operates out of the cabins. He indicated the structures were rented out to people coming off the trains at the station nearby.
County property records give a date of 1935 for the motel’s construction.
There were little rental log cabins in this style in Cedar Hill (out Gravois), which used to be a summer resort of sorts. I’d guess from the post war–they had a woodsy retreat Douglas Sirk vibe And a larger log cabin tavern called Hilda’s (before that Cedar Tavern) that was a wild spot in the 70s until (going on memory) it burned down: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=3206825012767444&set=gm.646175322980074&idorvanity=487608198836788
Looks like at lease one of the little cabins is still there:
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.3439903,-90.6546126,3a,75y,12.4h,78.54t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1shW7WJjDS7zQIIVyYhld4Xw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu
There were definitely more roadside taverns built in that same style sprinkled around JeffCo.