Relic Signs: Town Motel – Birmingham, Alabama

It’s hard to nail down a precise date for this fantastic Googie-style sign, but it was likely erected sometime after 1957.

The Town Motel opened in 1951¹ and expanded in 1957,² but newspaper images from both dates show two completely different signs — neither of them was this one.

An undated postcard, pictured below, shows the sign in its original — and much more pristine — condition, noting that the motel was owned and managed by Mr. and Mrs. Charles D. Mitchell and Son, who operated the establishment from 1951 to at least 1960.³

References

1. “Phone Seale Lumber For Loan Information.” Birmingham Post-Herald (Birmingham, Alabama), May 26, 1951, p. 8. ↩︎
2. “Town Motel Again Re-orders From Rhodes-Carroll”. The Birmingham News (Birmingham, Alabama), February 23, 1957, p. 14. ↩︎
3. Polk’s Birmingham (Jefferson County, Alabama) City Directory 1960. Richmond, Virginia: R.L. Polk & Co., Publishers (1960). ↩︎