Matterhorn Motel — 1949

Matterhorn Motel — 1949. . , Arkansas native George H. Edwards (1901-1981) was a mid-20th Century civic leader who capitalized on Lake City's emerging tourism-based economy in the years immediately following World War II. Edwards and his wife, Velma, began vacationing in Lake City from their winter home in Cottonwood, Arizona in the mid-1940s and on July 1, 1949 completed their ultra-modern Matterhorn Motel named in recognition of nearby 13,590' Matterhorn Peak. , Whereas earlier Lake City area tourist accommodations consisted of individual cabins arranged around a central shower house with communal bathrooms, Edwards' innovative tourist court consisted of 18 rental units, including 12 connected kitchenette apartments with the previously unheard of luxury of individual private showers, flush toilets, and hot and cold running water. Initially renting at $7.50 a night for four people, kitchenettes at the Matterhorn were advertised with propane wall heaters, Armstrong tile floors, metal dinette sets, light wood furniture in western motif, and steel venetian blinds at expansive windows. Best yet, according to tourist literature in 1952, “the motel is located two blocks from the center of Lake City and is within easy walking distance of unsurpassed fishing streams.” , Edwards and other newly arrived out-of-state business owners were staunch advocates of Rural Electrification which was the basis of the “Revolt of the 1940s” pitting newer tourist-based business owners against older residents of the area. In his role as Hinsdale County Commissioner in the mid-1950s, George Edwards worked to expand the local tourism infrastructure by encouraging paving Highway 149. He was a founding member of Hinsdale County Chamber of Commerce in 1951, cast an assenting vote in 1958 for county acquisition of public lands at Lake San Cristobal, and in 1954 worked with the chamber of commerce on an innovative project to construct fishing lakes for tourists , now known as Deer Lakes , on Slumgullion Pass. , [photo captions] , . Embroiled in a town-wide controversy over bringing rural electrification into Lake City, Matterhorn Motel builder George H. Edwards, above left, was in a serious demeanor when he was photographed by Cal Quel of the Denver POST in 1955. , . The ultra modern tourist court is illustrated at left in a 1952 advertisement.