Hialeah Cabins on the Move – Feb. 9, 1961

One of my favorite topics on this blog has been the old tourist cabins that dotted the U. S. 6 landscape west of Lorain in the 1940s and 50s. These Mom and Pop lodging businesses predated the motel era, and consisted of individual structures collectively called a tourist court. 

If the owners stayed in business long enough, they often connected the small cottages or cabins under one roof to give them the appearance of a modern motel. (A good example of this would be the old Grandview Court, which evolved into the Grandview Motel.)

Sometimes, however, the tourist court business might not survive due to changes in road alignments. Green Lantern Camp apparently was put out of business thanks to the widening of Lake Road. And Hialeah Tourist Court ended up stranded on a bypassed piece of the highway.

I’ve been curious about Hialeah Tourist Court for some time, since there are still a few cabins there that somehow have survived to this day. I wondered: what happened to the other cabins?

Well, it took some time, but I have my answer: the other cabins were moved – to Mill Hollow!

As the small clipping from the Feb. 9, 1961 Lorain Journal notes, “Five tourist cottages have been donated to the Mill Hollow Reservation of the Lorain Metropolitan Park District by County Commissioner Ludwig M. Pincura, owner of Hialeah Tourist Court, 4015 W. Erie Ave.

“Two cottages will be used as information centers, two others will be used as shelters and the fifth will be used as a nature lodge.”

It would be interesting to know how long the cabins were used, and if any survive to this day, perhaps as a forgotten park tool shed.

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UPDATE 

The Arcadia Publishing book Lorain County Metro Parks: The First 50 Years (by Gary S. Gerrone) includes a photo of one of the repurposed cottages being used as a small picnic shelter.

The photo caption reads, “Five 12-by-16-foot summer cottage homes were donated to the Lorain County Metro Parks in 1960. Three of these were turned into small picnic shelters, like the one shown here. One was turned into the park’s first version of a nature center. The last one was turned into an information center, and although long closed, it greeted visitors to Mill Hollow’s “B” side well into the 1990s."

Hialeah Tourist Court Revisited

I spent the last few days looking at the various trailer parks that were located on West Erie Avenue just east of the railroad undercut at W. 21st Street. However, there was one business that catered to travelers in that same area that most likely predated them all: Hialeah Tourist Court.

But Hialeah Tourist Court was not a trailer park. It was actually one of the earliest forms of businesses offering overnight accommodations – a cabin camp. It first appeared in the Lorain City Directories in the 1939-1940 edition as Hialeah Cabins. 

(I devoted a post to Hialeah Tourist Court and its history back here in 2014.)

And now here’s something I never thought I’d see on Ebay: a cool early postcard of Hialeah Cabins showing the layout of the property. That's the railroad tracks in the rear.

If you look closely you can see the ‘Hialeah’ name under the CABINS PRIVATE BATHS sign.

Here’s a closeup of the cabins on the right. Note the car in the background.

And now here’s a view of the postcard scene today. It looks like the office cabin is still there. But there appears to be just two cabins remaining.

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Here’s a late fall 2019 view of the remaining cottages.

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And here’s a spring 2020 view.

Hialeah Tourist Court

Aerial view of the former Hialeah Tourist Court today, located at the east end of Pueblo Drive;
the red-roofed buildings at the top are what's left of the Hialeah property. It's not hard to imagine
that there were probably other buildings along the drive circling the Hialeah property.

Just a little to the east of Lorain Diner was Hialeah Tourist Court.

What's a tourist court? It was an early form of roadside lodging (also known as a tourist camp) that consisted of a few cabins that were for rent by tourists. Tourist courts were the predecessor to today's motels, which didn't really come into existence until after World War II.

There were several tourist courts and camps along U.S. 6 west of Lorain back in the 30s and 40s.

Anyway, the earliest listing I could find for Hialeah Tourist Court was in the 1939-40 Lorain City Directory, when it was known as Hialeah Cabins. The name associated with the business at that time was M. B. Glockle.

Slowly, the name of the business began to evolve. It appeared in the 1947 Lorain Phone book as Hialeah Tourist Camp. A few years later it became known as Hialeah Tourist Court.

1952 Lorain Phone Book listing

The Hialeah Tourist Court's owners in the 1950s and 60s were Ludwig "Tiny" Pincura and his wife Margaret.

It's easy to see that in the post-war era – when Americans and ex-GIs decided to hit the road and see the country – there were many business opportunities along busy "6 & 2," the main east-west highway in Lorain. During the late 40s and early 50s, several roadside lodgings and eateries popped up in that area.

The Hialeah Tourist Court seems to have been one of the first, predating its immediate neighbor, Beth-Shan Motel and Trailer Court.

Unfortunately, the widening of West Erie Avenue in the late 1950s resulted in several businesses – including the Hialeah – being stranded on Pueblo Drive, the short, bypassed stretch of the highway.

The Hialeah Tourist Court hung on until the mid-1960s. It even changed its name in the directories to Hialeah Court Motel in some of its last listings, before finally disappearing from the phone book and the city directory around 1966.

Today, the former Hialeah Tourist Court at 4015 Pueblo Drive remains largely hidden from view from U.S. Route 6 motorists. The house that the owners lived in is still there (at left), but it looks like any other residence.

Only a lone cabin (below) – sitting back from the road and peeking out from the trees – provides a hint of the property's roadside heritage as a refuge for weary travelers.

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Incidentally, Mr. Pincura was a star football player at Lorain High and an athlete with many accomplishments; here's a link to his page on the Lorain Sports Hall of Fame website. He also served as a Lorain County Commissioner, retiring in 1976.