Stettler Then & Now: Heartland(er) Motel

Those who follow our adventures know how much we love staying at old school motels/hotels when on the road. It’s not just due to budgetary reasons we do this (well, yes it is), but that we simply love the vibe. Heck, if we won the lotto tomorrow – and we’re feeling lucky so who knows – we’d still make them our crash pad of choice when out exploring. They speak of another era, usually have heaps of character and are something unpretentious and just a nice fit. And while many can be dated and a bit run down, as long as they’re clean and well managed, and of course cheap, we’re in. Photographing them can be a blast too.

Here’s a motel that makes it into a BIGDoer.com “then & now”. It wasn’t the place we were staying at this visit to Stettler Alberta, we bunked down at another “dive” motel, but it still deserved a little of our attention. Here’s a look at it perhaps some forty to sixty years separated and differing little over that time, excepting now it has a different sign and at some point a minor change of name. It was the Heartlander Motel then and presently the Heartland Lodge Motel.

The “then” photo comes from a reader, a lot of them do, and big thank you goes out to this person, who asked to remain nameless. It’s a scan from a postcard as you can see. Back in the day, motels/hotels would freely give out these promotions to customers with the hopes they’d send off a quick note to family or friends (we’re having SO MUCH FUN – sucks to be you!) which might entice the them, should they similarly hit the road, to stay at this fine establishment when passing through (now breath). It was a cheap and easy way to advertise and everyone in the biz did it. There’s still gazillions of them out there – check eBay or some random antique store and see for your self. We pick some up from time to time for a buck or two.

We’ve don’t know the date of the then photo. Often times there’s cars in the scene that can help us narrow down the possibilities, but here there’s not a one. No cars at all. Business 101: a full lot would be better to entice potential customers. If others are using staying there, so will we! If no one is…well you get the picture.

In any case, it’s be safe to assume it would be circa 1960s-1970s. We called around and came up empty. No one we spoke with, those who bothered to respond, was even sure when it was built, but the 1960s seems probable based on the overall style and a general gut instinct. It’s not clear when the name change took place either. The current owners seem to have inherited it as the Heartland.

We found an advertisement in a late 1960s phonebook for the Heartlander. It reads…“Eric & Joyce Luscombe, Mgrs. TELEVISION – TELEPHONES – RADIOS -PLUG-INS – COMBINATION BATH & SHOWER – CONTROLLED HEAT. On Highway 56 — 1 Block South of Junction with Highway 12. Stettler 742-3401.”

Interestingly, there’s a good number of varied businesses in that directory based out of Stettler using the Heartland Name. The word is defined: “The central or most important part of a country, area, or field of activity”. Thanks Dictionary.com. I guess that explains the popularity of the title. Stettler is the biggest town in the area.

Today the building is little changed. The office/manager’s residence and one wing of the building had some low dormers added. The upper floor railing have been made solid, and there’s some other minor differences. Stairs look the same. Overall, the look then is the look now. Architecturally, it’s very much a motel of the era, L shaped, with two levels, fairly utilitarian and with an attached residence for the live in owners or caretakers. Like countless others.

The old sign displays a Canadian Auto Association/Alberta Auto Association (partly cut off). A recommendation by these groups was business gold. They put out maps that directed people to your your participating motel (or business) that was distributed among its vast membership and sometimes given away in gas stations and such. No neon on the old sign, which is a personal favourite along with those that anachronistically advertised Colour and/or Cable TV. That was a thing once! We still see old ones like that from time to time speaking of amenities someone young might not understand. “You mean there used to be B&W sets? Cable…is that the old internet? Did dinosaurs terrorize you in your sleep?”

We lined up this one pretty well. There’s a bit of a fall away problem (common when shooting at less than right angles) with ours, when compared to the earlier one but it’s not obvious unless you look close. This could be account of shooting too high relative to the original (and it only takes a hair) or if our focal length did not match up – and we’ll never know the latter, which at best can only be guessed at. Still it’s close enough and anyway, we never strive to ace it to that degree, even if once in a while we do, but only to get close. We’re sometimes obsessive (an “amen” from everyone who knows us) but not to that degree. It ain’t about the glory, but the fun.

All the lining up takes place in camera, with numerous photos taken as slightly different positions which assures us at least one will be close enough. Occasionally none work, it happens, and the piece is scrapped or given plans for a revisit. The closer in the subject the more challenging it becomes, exponentially so.

You’ll often hear us calling places like this “dive motels (or hotels)”. As a clarification, it’s by no means done so in a negative way and is meant to be endearing. We’re fond of them and have a little fun with the title at their expense. If they’re simple, honest accommodations with basic amenities, so one or maybe two stars on the hotel rating scale, and tidy, they’re for us. Low places is where you’ll find Team BIGDoer.

If you have a family photo or old postcard showing something such as this, or some other street scene or landscape that you think would make the basis for a BIGDoer then & now, let us know. It need only show something from the old days of which some element(s) still remains. That’s it. Many “thens” are reader supplied.

They’re saying…

”Love seeing your posts…love the stories that go with it….heck I am travelling with you!” Daryl Tucker.

Another Stettler T&N…
Stettler Alberta Then & Now – Stettler Hotel – A fine 1940s building.

Fun in the area…
Alberta Prairie Railway Tours Ride Along – Fun to the tenth degree.
Stettler County Collection – Part 1 – Acres of old vehicles.
Stettler County Collection – Part 2 – And more metal!

If you wish more information on what you’ve seen here, by all means contact us!

Date of Adventure: June, 2018.
Location: Stettler, AB.
Article references and thanks: Town of Stettler, Connie for inspiration.

The Heartland(er) then & now.

One fine evening in Stettler Alberta.