Dreaming of Autopia…Southern Arizona Auto Courts of the 1920s and 30s (Pamphlet)

Description

Author: Devine, David

Publisher: Tucson Corral of the Westerners

Pub Date: 1997

Binding: Paperback

Condition: Fair.  Stapled binding tight.  No marks, tears, folds.  Upper front cover corner at spine head bumped.  Previous owner’s blindstamp on upper front cover corner.  Slight edge and corner wear.

Notes: Pamphlet.  “The Smoke Signal” No. 68, Fall 1997.  Publication of the Tucson Corral of the Westerners.  Until the early 20th century most travel was done by rail, wagon, or horseback.  The automobile changed that.  Even though roads were still primitive, a person could pretty much travel where they wanted.  As the number of autos soared (from 8000 in 1900 to 8 MILLION in 1920) the number of places to stay while traveling didn’t keep pace.  Auto camping became a thing.  Some cities even established free “auto camps.”  Between 1926 and 1930, the number of “courts” (think “motel”–a word that was first used in 1924, for the Milestone Inn in San Luis Obispo, California) increased 900% to 20,000 (“Along the Roadside”, Knowles, Christian Science Monitor Weekly Magazine, July 31, 1935).  The first auto camp in Arizona was started in Douglas, perhaps as early as 1901, but more probably 1913.  By the 1940s much of the traffic was in Benson, Bisbee, Tombstone, and up to Tucson and Phoenix.   Fascinating.