Oldest - Motel in Texas
Posted by: 
WalksfarTX
N 30° 39.592 W 096° 59.506
14R E 692414 N 3393627
Rainbow Tourist Camp and Courts in Rockdale, TX claims to be the Oldest Motel in Texas on the sign at their entrance.
Waymark Code: WMYBT3
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 05/26/2018
Views: 1
Historical Marker:
Nathan Monroe Bullock, a member of the State Mining Board, opened Rainbow Tourist Camp near his Rockdale home in 1918. By the 1920s, Bullock and his wife, Lenora, added cottages to the camp.
In 1936, when U.S. Highway 79 was built through town, business boomed and Bullock called in his brother, Ira Benjamin (I.B.) to assist in running the courts. After N. M. Bullock died in 1945, his brother purchased the tourist courts. He purchased additional space, added more rooms, and renovated much of the facilities. I. B. Bullock died in 1970 and in 1975 his wife, Algia Mae Bullock, sold Rainbow Courts Motel to their daughter and her husband.
Many of the cottages present are the original structures from the 1920s, although renovated. The cottages were originally constructed as wood frame with piers and beam foundations. The cottages were built to include carports within an inline power- sharing design. The mission revival style cottages' parapets and flat roofs have been covered with gabled metal roofs.
The motel office was remodeled with an Austin Stone veneer in the 1950s. The layout of the motel cottages is still a classic "U" shape. Iris plants, first planted by Lenora Bullock, still bloom on the property. Rainbow Courts had a significant impact on the evolution of Travel and Tourism in Rockdale and the State of Texas.
Type of documentation of superlative status: Sign
Location of coordinates: Entrance to Motel
Web Site: [Web Link]
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Visit Instructions:
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