Overnight in the '50s - #lakewoodnews

There was a time in the 1930s through 1950s when travelers on their way west to the mountains flooded West Colfax Avenue. To accommodate all those travelers, enterprising businesspeople opened up motels.

A few remnants of this travel culture remain on the avenue, but one of Colfax's historic motels is reopening after more than 50 years of disuse.

The Estes Motel will open at its new home at the Lakewood Heritage Center, 801 S. Yarrow St., at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 11, as part of the Lakewood's annual Rockin' Block Party event. Visitors will be able to tour the motel and learn more about the era and Colfax.

"We opened our last building here at the Heritage Center in 2009, so this is a big deal for us," said Jeffrey Murray, Heritage Center administrator. "It's a very humble building, but if we didn't save buildings like these, they would all be wrecked and we wouldn't be able to show how our grandparents and great grandparents lived."

The restoration has been in the works since 2010, when the motel was first moved to the Heritage Center, according to Caitlin Lewis, museum curator. The motel was donated to the Heritage Center by Michael Bettmann, owner of Colorado Frame Company who remains the owner of the property that was once the site of the Estes Motel.

The Estes fits into the story of tourism and commerce along West Colfax Avenue in the 1950s that the Heritage Center tells, Lewis said.

"The Estes is really representative of the era," she said. "It all ties together with our focus on the hub that Colfax was during the time."

The two-room, two-carport motel, constructed in 1948-1949, was originally owned by Clifford and Christine Estes, according to information provided by the city. It sat on their property on the south side of Colfax just east of Kipling in what was then a rural area of unincorporated Jefferson County. A night's stay at the motel cost $4 to $8.

At this time, Colfax was a narrow, two-lane avenue known as Highway 40, Murray explained. It hit its tourism peak in 1952 with 37 motels, as well as gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants and other businesses.

"There was this window when train usage was declining and transcontinental flight wasn't available to everyone yet," Murray said, "and that's when the car was king."

from Lakewood Sentinel - Latest Stories http://lakewoodsentinel.com/stories/Overnight-in-the-50s,216676