Contact
The Blue Gables Motel is eligible under Criteria A and C at the local level of significance. The roadside accomodation is located in Buffalo, where motor courts and motels were an important part of the local economy due to the town's location on U.S. Highway 16 (US 16), a route for recreational travelers across the Big Horn Mountains and to the national parks further west. It is therefore eligible under Criterion A in the areas of commerce and recreation/entertainment. The use of log cabins and "western design" as well as the eponymous name that referred to the gable-roofed cabins, makes the property an example of where architecture was used to capture the attention of the traveling public. For this reason, the property is also eligible under Criterion C for architecture. It is an excellent example of the cabin court expanded to provide the amentities of a more modern motel. The property conveys the early period of construction and the expanded motor court during the 1950s and 1960s and, more importantly, a roadside accommodation during the height of the post World War II travel boom. Therefore the period of significance is from 1941 to 1967.
The Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office documents, preserves, and promotes Wyoming’s heritage with our preservation partners.
Get a Poster or purchase Archaeology wear...
How do I list a property on the NRHP?...