Sleepee Teepee Blairmore Alberta

For a time, long ago, the Sleepee Teepee Motel was a local landmark in the Crowsnest Pass of Alberta. Located in the community of Blairmore, it was kitschy to the extreme and made to look as though a western fort with a First Nation’s encampment out front. With battlements, a chuckwagon office and the brightly coloured teepees, it was a head tuner that stood out among local competition.

A buffalo guarding the entrance greeted those stopping in for the night. There were deer on the property too, but they’re not seen in the old photo.

The Sleepee Teepee hearkens back to the days when a road trip was an adventure, and lodgings were a memorable part of the experience. “Daddy, daddy, stop here! We want to sleep in a teepee!” <-- Every kid back then. Imagine the sour faces that followed should the answer be “no”.

Sleepee Teepee Blairmore Alberta: the subject of a BIGDoer.com Then & Now, presented by Chris Doering & Connie Biggart (BIGDoer/Synd)

Motels of this era were often gaudy affairs, dictated by the wacky styles of the time, and always (it seems) had a flashing neon sign with the obligatory office-this-way arrow. Think character and personality. Now modern overnight accommodations are often prison-like, sterile, cold, generic in form and made instantly forgettable.

This post was originally published almost a decade ago (we’ve been at it a loooong time), and here it’s been respun and updated, while still using the original photos. Fixing it up has been long overdue. The old photo is from 1970, where as ours is from 2013.

First up spelling conventions: teepee (sometimes tee pee or tee-pee), tepee or tipi? But not TP and that’s for the bathroom. All forms seem to be generally accepted, although in terms of usage, tipi seems slightly more popular. Given it’s spelled teepee in the old photo, we’ll do the same here.

Now we have to find the place and that’s a challenge we like. We didn’t have an exact address (seems they only listed a PO box in ads and on postcards) but with help from locals found the approximate location. Then all we had to do was line up the mountain in back to match the angle in the old photo and bingo! Press of a shutter and it’s another Then & Now in the books.

Then it’s off to find other remnants of the Sleepee Teepee that we told were still around. The buffalo, as it turns out, is located mere blocks away at a nearby park and a Teepee just down the highway towards BC. We’ve noticed it before, but it didn’t click at the time and so once again we called on local help.

There it is and while it has lost that over-the-top pastel paint job and is looking a little worse for wear, it is intact. Random thought: it’s not the most spacious place.

A couple other Sleepee Teepee teepees (love saying that) found their way to a nearby Bible camp, but we’re not sure if they’re still standing in 2022. Nothing come ups when we do a search.

The Sleepee Teepee Motel first makes mention in local phone books in 1954, although some data suggests the teepee rooms may have come a little later. What did they use before then? The business closed in 1983 (we’re using old phone books as reference – a sound method) and today a building supply store occupies the site.

Bluff Mountain (Goat Mountain to some locals) is seen in behind the motel and without, we would have never been able to line up the shot. It is the only element that has not changed.

While researching this article we came across a number of postcards from the old days showing our subject here. Motel postcards were common of the era, as an advertising premium, and even today plentiful. In every instance, it appears that the grounds and buildings were well kept and freshly painted. The chuckwagon office seems to have moved around over the years, however, and in some pictures sat parallel to the road.

On the back of one postcard, this prose…

“With hammer and nail,
On this ancient trail,
Where the Rockies touch the blue,
On the sunny side,
Of the great divide,
It was built and priced for you.”

Sleepee Teepee Motel, Blairmore, 4 star accommodations (or alternately: 8 – 4 Star Units).

It seems they spelled the name of motel many ways in promo material – Sleepee Tee-pee, Sleepy Teepee or Sleepy Tipi in addition to what we’ve used here (which appears most common). Clearly the motel’s own sign shows ”Sleepee Teepee”.

Teepee motels were popular once and there’s still a small chain in the US still in operation for those who wish a real retro experience. They refer to the rooms as wigwams, in error.

In any photos we’ve seen of the Sleepee Teepee only three of its namesake cabins can be seen, but some data suggests there may have been more. In any ads we’ve found the copy mentions eight units in total (without elaborating), so it’s possible some rooms may have been traditional style side by side accommodations in the building on the left. The one end was likely home for the owners, but may have extended further off camera.

We wonder if other bits from the motel survived? We now know there’s a deer somewhere close to the buffalo in the park (that we missed), but what about the rest? These statues, incidentally, were made by a local artist.

The then image is courtesy of and copyright Weston Langford and is used with permission. Sadly, Weston, a well known railway photographer (although he shot other things as well), sadly passed away only a week before this report was originally published in early 2014. Thanks Weston, we appreciate you allowing us use of this picture.

Know more: (new window): Teepee Motels.

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They’re saying…

“As a long time area historian I can say unequivocally that the thoroughness of the research and documentation done by Chris and Connie on any site they so respectfully explore is first rate. I consider them a go to on many many aspects of western Canadian history. And I am thankful that Off the Beaten Path exists as a first rate site to guide other explorers.” John William Kinnear (who helped with some backstory for this post).

More like this…
Bluebird Motel Then & Now.
Stettler Then & Now: Heartland(er) Motel.
Crowsnest Pass then and now – Chinook Motel – Also in the Crowsnest Pass.

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Date of Adventure: 1970 and December 2013.
Location: Blairmore, AB.
Article references and thanks: Weston Langford for the original photo, John Kinnear and the Medicine Hat & District Genealogical Society.

Then & Now @ the Sleepee Teepee Motel Blairmore Alberta.

The bison seen in the old photo didn’t travel far.

A surviving teepee.