Blairmore Motel: No Vacancy

Today’s subject is a small town motel that closed a long time ago, or rather what’s left of the business today. Only some elements remains. However, from certain angles it still looks the part, if not a bit run down and showing its age. Picture a road weary traveller one dark stormy night, desperate for shut-eye and only on closer examination realizing they’re a few decades late. The Blairmore Motel is out of business and it’s soon made clear there is no vacancy.

Before we jump in to the backstory we should mention much data for this piece comes via old telephone books. For a travel-oriented business such as this, that relied on being found, it was a pretty good medium for getting your name out at the time. It provides us with a reliable record too and as such we use them all time for research.

The Blairmore Motel first makes mention in 1961 and vanishes from listings in 1987. It kept pretty much the same name throughout, although early on it appeared as the Blairmore Auto-Court. It appears it had at least several owners with the last calling it quits after perhaps a season or two.

Located close to the main route though town at the time, the construction of a new highway bypass in the early 1980s was likely a catalyst for it closing later that decade.

In 1962, an advert reads: “One block off main highway centre of town. Modern units – Reasonable rates.” Another from 1980 is the about same but adds: “Phone, color cable TV and kitchenettes.”

Here’s the features touted in 1986…

“Clean – quiet – comfortable.
17 approved family units.
Fully equipped kitchens
Color Cable TV – DD phones
Parking – Winter plug ins
Courtesy coffee.”

Colour TV? Comped coffee? Is this the Ritz-Carlton?!!! These might seem like trivial selling points now, but were a big thing not all that long ago. In the old days, a room was literally that, a bed, a bathroom and little else. How our expectations have changed and what was once a special feature is now the norm or even blasé. Or laughable.

It’s not clear what stood on the property before but it’s along a mostly residential street, so a house or houses are a strong possibility. The old office may indeed be a former home from before. The phone number of the Blairmore Motel was earlier that of the owner, before it was built, so it must have been their place all along.

Neither is there info on what happened right after closing. Did it just stand empty? Nothing definitive comes up in a search.

At the beginning of this century, a used car dealer operated out of the old motel office and did so up until a few years ago. That fenced in property right across the alley that bisects the two hunks of land, we believe was their property.

There’s a few old cars inside that compound, stored I guess, including some vintage beauties (1960 Ford Thunderbird and 1957 Cadillac – tail fins!). If we were to travel back in time, it’d be easy picture them parked out front of the motel. Along with a fake-wood panelled wagon.

Of the seventeen units mentioned in the quoted ad, only four remain today. It’s assumed the others were located about where that fenced lot is that we just spoke of, but their disposition is unknown.

The Blairmore Motel is in the motor-court style common to the mid-century era. That is single level and car friendly – you park right in front of your unit.

The remaining four units comprise one rectangular building. Presumably the other units were similarly grouped like this, with several per building. Perhaps they were arranged in a U-type pattern, as was common, but again, we’re only guessing. A couple alleys surround the property.

The office was a home for those running the motel and this arrangement was also typical. Found near the street and well weather beaten is what’s left of the old motel sign. The early ’90s Oldsmobile parked on the property fits in well with the gritty surroundings and completes the scene.

It almost looks like a movie set and feels untouched, even if dated and unkempt. The whole scene is rather surreal and it’s like it might still be in business. You know, a little-visited Bates’ Motel kind of place, but it’s a slow night.

How changed the motel is from where it shut down thirty five years prior, or even as built, is unknown. But we suspect time stood still here and it’s all pretty original.

Once it was little mom and pop run places like it that travellers relied on. They were small, simple, cheap and friendly. Family run and they tried a little harder.

Few such places remain and most, like the Blairmore Motel, are but a memory. Now the chains dominate the scene and they seems to lack in character.

That this one survives and remains recognizable so long after closing, for us, is a real treat. It’s just like the places we stayed at as a kid on family road trips and with that the memories come rushing back. As we often do, we stand there in the silence with the cameras put away, and imagine it back in the old days. It was busy and welcoming, and life seemed a little simpler.

Till the next town and the next retro motel we might encounter, happy trails.

Know more about the town (new tab): Blairmore Alberta Municipality of Crowsnest Pass and of this mid-century style of motel: Mid-Century Style Motor Court Motels.

They’re saying…

“I enjoy your pictures and write ups so much. They bring back a touch of nostalgia for things we used to know, or didn’t even know about. It’s all about keeping our history alive and vibrant. It’s about where we came from, and about the people that made today’s world possible. Today’s world is so fast paced and so focused on the future, which is all well and good, but it’s nice to remember too, how it was not so very long ago. Thank you Chris and Connie.” Jan Cooper.

Random awesomeness…
Calgary Transit Route #2 17th Ave SW.
The Tug SS Hosmer (1909).
Railway Barge Slip Rosebery BC (1989).

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Date of adventure: August 2020.
Location: Blairmore, Alberta.
Article references and thanks: Medicine Hat & District Genealogical Society (phone books), Alberta Transportation and the book Crowsnest and its People.

No vacancy at the Blairmore Motel, closed in the 1980s.

The fenced compound on the property holds a few old cars.

A few units and the old office in back remains.

It almost looks like a functioning (albeit rundown) motel.