Guests sit outside the Blue Top Motor Court, 1950s-1960s

A photograph of the Blue Top Motel. A row of small cottages sit in a line, surrounded by small trees. Some guests sit outside in the sun. A row of flowering bushes stand next to a gravel road.

The Blue Top Motel was originally built and owned by Gustave R. (Rudy) and Iva B. Falk in the 1940s. The family listed the property in 1952. A gentleman named Russell Miller noticed the advertisement in the Des Moines Register and encouraged his nephew, Laurence Smith, to purchase the motor court. He and his wife Helen ran the motel together until his death in 1984. Helen Smith continued to manage the motel with her son, Larry, and his wife, Judy (Howe) until her death in 1994 (Wiederrecht-Finke, p. 5-6, 12-13).

Coralville Public Library. Coralville Digital History Library.

1950s-1960s

Educational use only, no other permissions given.

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Coralville, Iowa