Hotel in downtown Forest City ca 1930
Dirt Main Street, Forest City
Advertisements on Bridge, ca. 1925
Auto Gassing Up, ca. 1918-1922Wayside Businesses
At one time taverns and hotels
served stagecoach travelers. But when the railroads began to provide long
distance passenger service, many of these hotels and taverns went out of business.
When travelers went back to the roads in automobiles people could once again
earn a living with a roadside business.
Roadside Advertising
Soon the landscape began to change.
Here and there, service stations, restaurants and tourist courts appeared.
During summer months, roadside vegetable and fruit stands did a brisk business.
These businesses advertised their services on signs placed along the roadside.
Manufacturers thought the roadside was a good place to advertise too, and
soon signs for their products lined the highways. Eventually there were many
signs of all sizes and shapes. People decided the roadsides had become ugly
and laws were passed limiting the size of signs and where they could be placed.
To compete for travelers' dollars, businesses kept trying to do better. Tourist
camps became motels with swimming pools and restaurants. Sparkling clean gasoline
stations replaced dirty, greasy ones. Some stations even included miniature
grocery stores where travelers could buy snacks and soft drinks.
New Kinds of Businesses
New businesses appeared in towns and cities too. Drive-in restaurants became popular, especially in the 1940s. Later drive-through restaurants replaced them. On the edge of many towns, huge outdoor movie screens rose up, where people could sit in their cars to watch the latest feature. Some older businesses changed their ways. Banks built drive-up windows that made it easy for people to take care of banking quickly without getting out of their cars.
