Del Camino Motor Hotel
On the piece of land now occupied by the MSB and MSB II buildings stood the Del Camino Motor Hotel and Restaurant. Opened in the 1930’s by W.A. Adams Sr., the motel started with 36 units and later grew to 276 units. At one time, the Del Camino Motor Hotel was the largest in the Southwest ("Del Camino Sold to New York Firm").
In 1941, the motel added a hotel building which housed a lobby, lounge, and curio shop. It also added an additional twenty rooms to the motel ("El Paso Will Have New Hotel"). In the 1960’s, the motel underwent a massive renovation. All the units that were located across Alameda Avenue were demolished and everything was moved to the north side of Alameda Avenue. It was during this time, the Del Camino was the second largest motel in the world. The largest motel was only twelve rooms bigger ("Del Camino Motor Hotel Alterations under Way").
In 1988, a fire destroyed some rooms and their famous Bullfight museum. The motel never opened again. In 1993, the motel was condemned by the city for safety reasons and for back taxes (Washington-Valdez "Historic Motel Heads for Auction Block"). In 1996, it was put up for auction and purchased by J.O. Stewart (Washington-Valdez "City Auctions Off Rest of Historic Motor Hotel"). In November 2001, J.O. Stewart and his wife Marlene donated the land to Texas Tech (Gilet and Fonce-Olivas). It was during this donation that the leftover items from the Bullfight museum were given to the library archive. Some of the items are on display in the library located in the MSB II building.
References
"Del Camino Motor Hotel Alterations under Way." El Paso Times Mar. 11, 1966. Print.
"Del Camino Sold to New York Firm." El Paso Herald-Post Jan. 30, 1959 1959. Print.
"El Paso Will Have New Hotel." El Paso Times Feb. 23, 1941 1941. Print.
Gilet, Louie, and Tammy Fonce-Olivas. "Texas Tech Announces New El Paso Research Center." El Paso Times Nov. 13, 2001. Print.
Washington-Valdez, Diana. "City Auctions Off Rest of Historic Motor Hotel." El Paso Times Aug. 8, 1996 1996. Print.
---. "Historic Motel Heads for Auction Block." El Paso Times Mar. 24, 1996 1996. Print.