Evolution of Overnight Accommodations
As vehicular transportation improved and gained popularity during the early twentieth century, road trips along highways spurred the development of entirely new types of business that catered to an increasingly mobile public in need of temporary shelter and lodging. Deeply rooted in the tradition of inns and stagecoach stops that provided accommodation to weary travelers, these new auto-related businesses began as modest operations that offered the most basic services for the growing number of motorists touring the state and nation.
Join Leslie Wolfenden, THC’s Historic Resources Survey Coordinator, for a virtual presentation and discussion exploring the evolution of boarding houses and hotels, auto camps, cabin camps, cottage courts, motor courts, and more recently the motor inn and highway hotel.
Leslie Wolfenden is the Historic Resources Survey Coordinator for the Texas Historical Commission where she manages the Historic Texas Highways and Historic Resources Survey programs since 2013 when she transferred from the Texas Main Street program as a project designer for two years. Prior to that, she did private sector environmental consulting for 4 years that included urban and rural historic resources surveys, Section 106 and NEPA compliance, and building condition assessments, as well as an 18-year career in interior design.
She also served for 3-and-a-half-years on the Austin Historic Landmark Commission and volunteered for San Austin’s Cemeteries, a local non-profit group for over a decade, leading the grassroots efforts of restoring the 1914 Gothic Revival chapel at the historic Oakwood Cemetery in Austin.
Leslie has a Master’s in Historic Preservation, a Bachelor’s in Architecture from the University of Texas system, and an Associate’s in Interior Design from Bauder College.
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