St. George: Early years of tourism

St. George: Early years of tourism

By LISA MICHELE CHURCH AND LYNNE CLARK

St. George emerged as a western tourism center in the early part of the twentieth century. Located along the Arrowhead Trail between Los Angeles and Chicago, the town was a natural stopping place for drivers who needed rest after struggling across the Mohave Desert. At first, St. George offered no more than a wide spot in the dusty road with a few family-owned rooming houses and rustic campgrounds. But, as roads improved and visitors increased, the town bloomed with cafes, motor courts, tourist cabins and gas stations.

The area gained even more attention when Zion and Bryce became national parks in the 1920s. Park advertising brought the first wave of true tourists to southern Utah – people who wanted to relax, see the sights and spend their money on food, gas and rooms. Tourism expansion continued in the years before and after World War Two. The presence of an LDS Temple and Tabernacle, along with the Dixie Academy, established St. George as a regional center where people would gather to attend church and school. Local families, whose ancestors settled the area for religious reasons, now became entrepreneurs in a service economy featuring everything from fruit markets to auto repair shops. Movie theaters and swimming pools sprang up and Hollywood even got into the act by filming several prominent westerns there.

The influx of these early tourists changed St. George from a small rural outpost to a nationally-known destination. While the growth continues in fits an starts even today, some vestiges of this early hospitality industry still do the landscape.

Intersection of Main Street and U.S. highway 91, looking east. The Hotel Dixie, originally called "The Big House", was built by Erastus Snow in the 1860s. It was the first hotel in St. George and visiting church authorities stayed there often. This 1929 photo was taken after the construction of the new Liberty Hotel - the tall building seen at the far left. The Hotel Dixie was demolished in 1930 to make way for a modern service station.

(ABOVE) Panoramic view of St. George valley taken from the Red Hill north of town, 1915. The little city has yet to spread south toward the LDS Temple, while the LDS Tabernacle towers over the western part of town. This shows the rural nature of the town prior to the advent of automobile tourism. Beginning with the establishment of Zion National Park in the 1920s, St. George grew with each decade and eventually extended far beyond the Virgin River to the south. Note the flood stage of the river in this photograph.

Looking west along Tabernacle Street in the 1920s. The original route of Highway 91 through St. George followed the Arrowhead Trail on Tabernacle Street, as shown here. Businesses on the left include a free campground, a harness shop, a meat market and an early service station with a sign reading “Welcome tourists – gas – oil.” In these early days of automobile travel, campgrounds and auto camps were popular stopping places for travelers wanting to stop on a whim and avoid hotel formalities.

Looking south down Main Street toward Tabernacle, 1920s. Despite not having oiled roads until 1931, St. George became a crossroads for many automobile travelers heading from Los Angeles to Chicago. Businesses on this street include the Post Office, the Co-op Mercantile, café, drugstore, the OK Meat Market, the Lyceum building, a bank, a bakery, and the telephone building. A garage on the left catered to motorists.

Dixie Auto Garage, 1917. This garage, located on 100 North near the Courthouse, was owned by Joseph Snow. Sitting in the 1917 Buick D45 are the carʼs proud teenage owner, Marvin Pymm, and some of his friends. As one of the first automobile owners in St. George, Marvin was often called upon to chauffeur the Stake Relief Society sisters on their visits around the county.

Building the road to the Sugarloaf on the Red Hill north of St. George, 1918. The car in the foreground is the famous Oldsmobile driven by racers Charles H. Bigelow and Owen Bird in June 1917 when they set a land speed record of 74 hours and 50 minutes round trip between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. Bigelow, a southern California native, became fascinated with Utahʼs red rock country and tirelessly promoted it to vacationers throughout the first half of the century. His prediction of a hundred cars a week driving through St. George was met with hearty laughter by townspeople.

Interior dining room of the Arrowhead Hotel, 1927. The hotel featured a three-ton automatic refrigerating system, including a six hundred-pound ice tank for cooling meats and vegetables. Guests could buy a banquet dinner for a dollar per plate, then enjoy an orchestra performance and dancing after their meal. Note the decorative arrowhead motif inlaid in the tile floor.

Members of the Warren Cox family, inside the Arrowhead Hotel, 1927. This lobby was one of the most luxurious in St. George. One reporter described it this way: “all woodwork throughout is of gumwood, beautifully finished; Tiffany shades of blue and tan have been used in the paintwork; semi columns on the sides of the lobby and dining room are each surmounted by a cherub; a broad stairway leads from the lobby up to the rooms above.” The hotel was three stories high with seventeen rooms on the first floor and fourteen rooms on the second. It flourished until the Arrowhead Trail was re-routed from Tabernacle Street up to 100 North in the 1930s.

Dickʼs Café, 1930s. Dick Hammer opened his famous café on Highway 91 at 100 East in June 1935. A native of Illinois, Dick worked for George Pace at the Big Hand Café, and for Jockey Hail at the Liberty Café, before starting his own restaurant in one of the old Schulz tourist cabins. He catered to the Hollywood stars coming to film westerns in the 1940s and 1950s near St. George. Dick even played the role of an outlaw in one film. He made lasting friendships with John Wayne, Gary Cooper, and Clark Gable. The restaurant featured memorabilia from these films and attracted many loyal followers during its fifty-year history.

Big Hand Café, approximately 1935. Located at the northwest intersection of Main Street and Highway 91, this café was well known for its quirky sign and friendly atmosphere. It was originally built as a hot dog stand by the John W. Pace family, in conjunction with a set of tourist cabins that became the Rugged West Motel. The Paces improved the cafe over the years into a full service restaurant. It became a busy interstate bus stop in the years after World War II. Andrew Pace is the man on the horse. The Big Hand closed in 1967.

The Dixie Theatre, Main Street, 1949. The theater, located on the west side of Main Street at 50 North, was a fixture for generations of moviegoers in St. George. This marquee features a premiere showing of the film Stallion Canyon which was filmed near St. George and starred Ken Curtis and Forrest Taylor. St. George café owner Dick Hammer was an extra in the production.

1930s

Two views from the same vantage point, looking east along Highway 91 through St. George. This road is now known as St. George Boulevard. The top photograph shows the relatively rural landscape in the 1930s, shortly after the highway was oiled through town. The Sunshine Cabins can be seen in the foreground, with an advertising sign for the Hotel Liberty featured nearby. The bottom photograph shows the same view twenty years later, after the cabins became the Southern Motel and Trailer Park. The road is largely commercial and many businesses dot its course.

1950s

Looking east along Highway 91 between Main Street and 100 East, 1937. An unusual snowstorm in southern Utah stranded motorists in town for days. The Liberty Hotel, drug store and cafe can be seen across the street. In the foreground is a fruit market and Heatonʼs Garage.

Photographs featured in this essay are from Lynne Clark’s photographic collection and her book, St. George—A Scrapbook of 150 Years, scheduled for publication in 2012.