Snapshots of History by Mike Avitt

By Editor | August 26, 2026 |

This week’s picture is a photo taken of a “linen postcard.” These types of postcards had a cloth-like finish and were most popular from the 1930s to the 1950s. “Linens” were colored with dyes and inks. Color photography existed, but was too costly for small-town postcards. The back of the postcard tells us the Clinton Motel features the most in comfort and conveniences, is heated with steam, has air-conditioning, 24 units, low rates and a telephone number of 444.
An article in the August 10, 1950 Record-News gives us more details. The Clinton Motel was built by and owned by McCullough Motor Company, the owners being Clinton Rice and his wife Mabel McCullough Rice. The building was constructed from Army surplus materials purchased from Peterson Field in Colorado Springs, Colo. and measured 244 feet by 25 feet. The 24 units consisted of 12 two bed rooms and 12 single bed rooms. Each room was furnished with a desk and chair, a rocking chair, hardwood floors and a bedspread with an embroidered “C” in the middle. The bathrooms had a sink, stool and shower with a linoleum floor. Each room was equipped for telephone service but did not come with a telephone.
The manager, Miss Dene Foltz, lived in a three-room apartment adjoining the laundry and furnace room.
Guests were treated to metal lawn chairs outside their doors and a neon sign out front said “Clinton Motel” and either “Vacancy” or “No Vacancy.” And I will add, 24 units was a very large number for the time period. The new motel sat where the Ringgold County Sheriff’s Office is today.
The motel had a long list of managers over the years and I feel I have located about 90 percent of them. Miss Dene Foltz was no longer at the motel by spring 1951, but I don’t know who succeeded her. The next managers I found are Mr. and Mrs. Carson Williams in the spring of 1955. Interesting. Carson Williams was one of the most successful local businessmen in Ringgold County history. Among other things, he started the Diagonal Reporter newspaper in 1918 and was once vice president of Security State Bank in Mount Ayr. My best guess is he and his (second) wife did this as a favor to Mabel and Clinton (Whitey) Rice. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Tennant took over the motel in October 1955. Mr. and Mrs. Ernie Johnson were the next managers beginning in October 1959.
At some point, Mr. and Mrs. Ainslee Triggs managed the Clinton Motel. They were there until March 1965 when Mr. and Mrs. Lester Sickels took the helm.Mr. and Mrs. Howard Paist came along in June 1968. Mr. and Mrs. Roy Pimper came along in February 1971. By 1977, Mr. and Mrs. Nick Duros were the managers, but I don’t know when they started. In July 1982, Mr. and Mrs. George Washburn became the new managers. Mr. and Mrs. Cory Robison took charge of the hotel on August 1, 1983. Bill and Lois Johnson became the new managers in the fall of 1985 and they stayed until at least 1999. Bob and Linda were next and they were still there when the motel closed in September 2005. Paul Ramsey owned the Clinton Motel by then. His new Mount Ayr Inn & Suites had opened in the summer of 2005.
The Clinton Motel had been put up for sale in the summer of 2005, but didn’t sell so the motel was physically divided into parcels and sold to the Amish who hauled the sections away in October and November of 2006.
Dan Cunning was the realtor when the motel was for sale. I went to Dan and asked permission to go into the rooms and photograph the murals that were painted into the corners of the rooms. I photographed about five rooms. As I was doing this, I opened a desk drawer and saw a Sale Barn Cafe menu sitting on top. That menu found a new home in the Mount Ayr Depot Museum.
The Clinton Motel has been gone 21 years now. I took several photographs of the motel before it was dismantled. I also have a nice collection of Clinton Motel matchcovers.

Posted in Snapshot of History by Mike Avitt