Ajo Historical Museum

 Seeing we were in Gila Bend as a base of operations for the Phoenix, AZ area, getting food was a challenge.  The local market in Gila Bend closed so the choices became Buckeye or Ajo, both 40 minutes away.  Since we came to Gila Bend through Buckeye we were familiar with the lay of the land so we decided we would food shop in Ajo. This turned out to be a good choice since Ajo is one of those towns where misfortune fell hard and they have re-imaged themselves.  

The Ajo Historical Museum documents this rise, fall, and recovery very well. The Ajo Historical Society was founded in 1975 and the Ajo Historical Society Museum was opened in 1976. The Museuem is located just a few minutes away from downtown Ajo at the St. Catherine's Indian Mission 1/4 mile to the west of the mine overlook on the Mine lookout road. The Museum itself is home to several different items from Ajo and the surrounding area's past. Ajo was originally built as a company town to support the New Cornelia open pit copper mine.   

Turns out that this was the only productive mine in the Ajo district. The mine is now under the ownership of Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Corporation through a series of acquisitions.  The mine was shut down in 1983 due to low copper prices, and a worker dispute with the local union. The museum documents the mine history and the downfall of Ajo very well. It also documents the contributions of Ajo natives throughout history including Ajo native’s contribution to the nation’s military.  While the closing of the mine nearly ruined Ajo, they have since remade themselves as an art haven and even host an annual fiddlers fest.

Gila Bend museum

What we learned this winter is that Phoenix, AZ is a very hard metro area to tour. Unlike other major cities the Phoenix metro area covers a lot of ground and everything is an hour away.  The next time we are in this part of the country we will  look at the geography a little better and tackle it by quadrant – a couple of days in the northwest quadrant, a couple in the northeast quadrant, and so forth.  The other issue is that there are few campgrounds in the metro area and none of them are state parks – so this trip gets pricey.  Because I can stay at military installations we headed to the Auxiliary Air Force Base in Gila Bend and used this as our base of operations.  

We did get to see a lot of the area but it really was inefficient for the eastern metro areas (Tempe, etc.).  Seeing Gila Bend was our base we started with the Gila Bend Visitor’s Center, which also serves as the Gila Bend Museum.  It turns out that the Gila Bend museum has some very interesting artifacts and documents the area’s history very thoroughly.  Along with the artifacts there is a lot of documentation regarding the native tribes that occupied the area over the years. 

I also found the docent on duty to be very knowledgeable and forthright.  One of the questions I always ask is about how the town got to its current state (of success or failure).  Gila Bend is currently in a depressed state with many closed businesses.  Even the local food market recently closed leaving residents with a 40-minute ride to either Ajo or Buckeye.  What killed Gila Bend was the 1980’s housing market collapse.  Gila Bend is trying hard to redevelop itself using everything from a sense of humor on its welcome sign – claiming 1917 Friendly residents and 5 old crabs (actually naming names!).  

It’s always nice when they keep swinging!

Wigwam Motel

Occassionally, we run across something very cool and it turns out to be even cooler and historically significant.  As we were cruising around Holbrook, AZ we came across some very cool looking old cars parked next to teepees.  It turns out that what we found was part of a motel chain that once consisted of seven locations. The Wigwam Motels, also known as the "Wigwam Villages"were built during the 1930s and 1940s. The rooms are built in the form of tipis, mistakenly referred to as wigwams. It originally had two locations in Kentucky and one each in Alabama, Florida, Arizona, Louisiana, and California.

They are very distinctive historic landmarks. Two of the three surviving motels are located on historic U.S. Route 66: the one in Holbrook, Arizona, and on the city boundary between Rialto and San Bernardino, California. All three of the surviving motels are listed on the National Register of Historic Places: the Wigwam Motel in Cave City, Kentucky, was listed in 1988 under the official designation of Wigwam Village #2; the Wigwam Motel in Arizona was listed as Wigwam Village #6 in 2002; and the Wigwam Motel in California was listed in 2012 as Wigwam Village #7.
Frank A. Redford developed the Village after adding tipi-shaped motel units around a museum-cum-shop he had built to house his collection of Native American artifacts. He applied for a patent on the ornamental design of the buildings on December 17, 1935, and was granted Design Patent 98,617 on February 18, 1936. The original drawing includes the swastika, at the time a symbol associated with Native Americans or often worn as a good-luck charm (who knew?).


 Seven Wigwam Villages were built between 1933 and 1949. The first Wigwam Village was built in 1933 by Frank A. Redford. It was located on the corner of US-31E and Hwy 218 in Horse Cave, Kentucky. The central building and gas pumps are visible on undated postcards. Six more wigwams were built to be used as guest rooms. This village was reportedly closed in 1935 when the nearby Wigwam Village #2 was opened. Village #1 was razed in 1982.

Wigwam Village #2 was built in 1937 on U.S. Route 31W in Cave City, Kentucky, close to Mammoth Cave National Park and a few miles south of the original Wigwam Village #1. It consists of 15 wigwams used as guest rooms that are arranged in a semicircle. In the center is a much bigger concrete and steel central structure that originally served as a restaurant, plus a common area with playground, recreation space, and pavilion. Each wigwam has a paved pad to accommodate one car. The restaurant is no longer in operation, but the motel is still open. Behind the main room of each unit is a small bathroom with sink, toilet, and shower. In 2008, the rooms contain the original restored hickory furniture and a window-mounted air conditioner. There are no telephones to maintain the original atmosphere of the motel, but the rooms do have cable TV and internet access. Wigwam Village #2 is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It achieved this status on March 16, 1988.
Village #3: was built in 1940, on U.S. Route 61 in Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans, Louisiana. This village was lost after it went out of business in 1954.
Wigwam Village #4 was built in 1948 near the intersections of U.S. Routes 441, 17, and 92 in Orlando, Florida This relatively large wigwam village consisted of 27 or 31 guest rooms, each in a separate wigwam constructed to resemble a horseshoe shape. A restaurant was built into the central and larger wigwam and more services were available, including a pool located in the middle of the lot. It was nicknamed and also self-proclaimed as "Orlando's Largest Motel". Wigwam Village #4 was razed in 1974. A 326-room Vacation Lodge now sits on the site, apparently still using the former motel's swimming pool.
Wigwam Village #5 was built in 1940. It was located 4 miles north of downtown Bessemer, on U.S. Route 11 in Bessemer, Alabama. The village consisted of 15 wigwams arranged in a semicircle. In the center was a much larger wigwam and two smaller ones, which served as offices and a restaurant. This wigwam village and cafe fell into ruin after it went out of business in 1964. It was demolished soon afterwards.

Arizona motel owner Chester E. Lewis built this Wigwam Village in 1950. It is located on the historic Route 66, in Holbrook, Arizona. The plans for this motel were based on the original of Frank A. Redford. Lewis first became aware of the distinctive wigwam designs when passing through Cave City in 1938. He purchased the rights to Redford's design, as well as the right to use the name "Wigwam Village," in a novel royalty agreement: coin-operated radios would be installed in Lewis's Wigwam Village, and every dime inserted for 30 minutes of play would be sent to Redford as payment.

The motel is arranged as a square, with 15 concrete and steel wigwams on three sides and the main office on the fourth; there was also originally a gas station on the complex. The individual units are called "wigwams," not "rooms" or "tepees" or "cabins." The units are numbered from 1 to 16, (there is no 13). Behind the main room of each unit is a small bathroom with sink, toilet and shower. Current rooms contain the original restored hickory furniture, two double beds, cable TV and a window-mounted air conditioner. In keeping with the authenticity of the restoration, there are no telephones, Internet access or ice machine. Vintage restored automobiles from the 1960s and earlier are located throughout the parking area.

Small green metal benches etched with the words "Wigwam Village #6" are scattered throughout the complex as well. Lewis operated the motel until closing it in 1974 when Interstate 40 bypassed downtown Holbrook. Two years after his death in 1986, sons Clifton and Paul Lewis and daughter Elinor renovated the motel before reopening it in 1988. The Lewis family continues to run and maintain Wigwam Village #6. Near the registration desk is a small room that contains many of Chester Lewis's memorabilia, including a necklace of human teeth of unknown origin. Wigwam Village #6 has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places since May 2, 2002.

Wigwam Village No. 7

Frank Redford built this complex for himself in 1947–49 and not as a franchise. The address of the motel is Rialto, California, but the motel is physically located in San Bernardino. It is on the boundary between the two cities on historic Route 66. Unlike the one arch of wigwams in other surviving villages, Village #7 has a double row of wigwam guest rooms. They total 19 in number, as well as a base for what seems to be another never-completed wigwam in the back of the property. A central building is currently used as an office, with a lobby that is open 24 hours a day. There is also a swimming pool, a large grass front and palm trees surround the property.  The property had become very run down and rooms were rented by the hour, aggravated by a sign advertising "Do it in a Tee Pee" that is still on site in the back. The complex underwent renovation, for which the National Historic Route 66 Federation awarded the Cyrus Avery Award in 2005. Attention to detail was the main focus during renovation, as the wigwams lost their zigzag pattern. Since 2012, the motel has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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