Driving around the Ashland area always takes me right past the former Bonnie Dell Motel on U. S. 250. I gave it the “Then & Now” photo treatment back here in 2011 using the vintage, stained postcard shown above.
Although the strip of motel rooms behind the main house is long-gone, the property is of historic interest today. That’s because right next door is a historic monument honoring John Studebaker and the location of his farm and blacksmith shop. (Studebaker later founded a wagon works in South Bend, Indiana that evolved into the well-known automobile brand.)
Anyway, last month I received an email from Andrew Bennett, whose parents owned the Bonnie Dell property. He took the time to write me in appreciation for the post about the motel.
Andrew noted, “My father was the person who bought that property right before I was born and ended up tearing down the motel when I was only a few years old. If my memory serves me correctly, that was the result of some zoning dispute."
He also had a few treasures that he wanted to share.
"I was doing some cleaning and went through another box of his belongings that I hadn't checked in years, only to find the key to Room 5.”
Andrew also had a color postcard of the motel. Its view is very similar to that of the black and white one (although there are subtle differences in the trees and landscaping, as well as a parked car).
Anyway, Andrew was pleased to see that the Bonnie Dell Motel isn’t entirely forgotten. He noted, "Your blog posts appear to be the only remaining evidence online that the motel ever existed aside from some vintage aerial photography. Thank you for preserving local history.”
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| A 1971 aerial view, courtesy of VintageAerial.com |
3 comments:
Andrew, there are a bunch of nice aerial photos of the Bonnie Dell available online. Go to Vintageaerial.com and then Ohio, then Ashland County. Type "Bonnie" in the search bar and you will see 4 photos from 1971 through 1990. Here is the Ashland County page: https://vintageaerial.com/photos/ohio/ashland
There are more motel photos in Ohio then any other state. There are 49 photos in Ashland County and 1,182 in Ohio, nearly a third of the 3790 motel photos found across the country so far. I find a new photo nearly every day. I really love it when I found one previously not identified. Small motels are one of the most iconic remainders of the old coast to coast highways like US routes 10, 20, 30 and 40, all of which go through the buckeye state.
Dennis Thompson (Mixdenny on the vintageaerial web site)
Interestingly enough one of the Ashland County motels has a possible connection to the Amy Mihaljevic case. Last fall I spotted a photo of a very small motel hidden in the trees only a mile or so from where Amy was found. It was absolutely unknown to the Ashland County Historical Society. I spent a day in Ashland going through old rural directories and land records. Some of the residents of the motel when it was an apartment drew my interest although I won't go into details. I gathered all my evidence and made a presentation to the Bay Village detectives. So far though, it is a dead end.
Thanks, Dennis! Those photos are great, I’m always amazed at the high quality of the photography on that website. I’m also amazed at how many photos on Vintage Aerials that you have personally identified. Incredible! I hope you get some kind of lucrative cash award (or at least a discount on prints) for amassing all those Points!
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