The Building Itself

The actual building was a dump, and dad knew it. How could it not be…it was built before any real building codes had been enacted and had languished for years after Bentley Mitchell’s death, with Ruth just getting by mostly on sympathy. He figured he could deal with it and make money, so he decided to go for it, but I think if mom had realized what kind of a pain it was going to be, she would have deep-sixed the whole thing herself.

The first few years were a true adventure. My oldest brother, Kent, had just returned from an LDS mission in the South, and he plowed himself into this thing with my dad, full time. Kent took the assignment of figuring out the outdoor pool system. Dad started tearing into the building proper, especially the air-conditioning systems, because this place had real air conditioning, something unusual back then. Also painting, by the way….this place was an eternal painting project. He’d start in the first room, Room 3 (don’t ask me why it started with Room 3, it just did) and paint the whole place, ending in Room 40. Since the basement was Room 7 and there was no Room 13 (NOT in 1963), he’d paint 35 rooms and start over again, every year. They were tiny rooms, but that’s a lot of paint. It was his best weapon to make the place look good. 

-Jerold Bishop

Within two years of owning the motel, my grandparents built the rest of the second level, which included a family apartment for them to reside in. Since this was largely a family-run operation, it was a great luxury to have in order to stay well-rested and on site at the same time.

From the Logan Library Historic Photo Archive: http://library.loganutah.org/Archives/HistoricPhotoArchive/HistoricPhoto.cfm?PictureIDNumber=288

This photo was taken back in 1960, approximately three years before my family bought it from Ruth Mitchell. As you can tell, the motel was only a rest stop more than anything else. No pool, only one part had a second floor added, and the parking lot was much smaller as well.