Tales from nearly seven decades of Newcastle history: The Stardust Motel

Kim Dean
Managing Editor
 
 
If the walls of the Stardust Motel could talk, what stories would they tell? Would the walls reveal more happy times than sad ones during its nearly seven-decade existence? Those very walls could tell the tale of its existence for it was built during the town’s oil boom era, when
lodging was scarce for oil workers and others who sought to eke out a living in the area. 
The winds of change have marked another business that has been in operation since 1954 in Newcastle. On April 29, demolition began on the Stardust Motel, located at 833 S. Summit Ave., after owners Bob and Shelley Williamson sold their motel, which is slated to be the site of a new Dollar General store.
Weston County Courthouse records going back to 1954 reveal that Duff O. Gray also known as D.O. Gray and E. Mae Gray conveyed and warranted lots 1, 2, 3 in Block 11 Duff Gray Addition on Feb. 17, 1954, to R.B. Brickner (1/2 interest), Lottie Murane (1/4 interest) and Mrs. V.H. Clark (1/4 interest) for the sum of $10. The next recorded filing was in 1963 from R.B. Brickner to J.B. Maher. In 1974, J.B. Maher warranted to Rose E. Maher and in March of the following year records show a transfer from Rose E. Maher to John E. Maher. 
The motel would change hands again in August of 1975 from John E. Maher to Louis W. Carlson. According to Stan Carlson, Louis’ son, his father moved to Newcastle in 1953 from Faith, S.D., after a suggestion from his good friend, Nathan Pillen. Louis started a construction business and built the Mountainview Trailer Park.  
“He was in the Old Mill having coffee break, and a realtor approached Dad and told him they only wanted $50,000 for it (Stardust Motel),” recalled Stan. At that time, he said, the motel had been sitting empty.
Stan said his dad purchased the fully furnished motel, washed all
the sheets, aired it out and opened for business. 
“There was some kind of convention going on for four or five days right after he opened, and he was able to pay off a big chunk of the $50,000. I can’t recall what convention it
was, but they were pretty tickled that they could all stay in the same place,” Stan said.
Stan’s younger brother, Allan, also shared a few memories of his duties at the motel, and he recalled how his dad talked him into digging underneath the motel to install a water heater. 
“I could have made Mt. Rushmore out of that dirt. You didn’t have room to swing a pick. It was hard ground,” Allan said of the difficult job that took more than three weeks to dig through 20 feet of dirt.
The tall neon sign triggered more memories, as Allan said the “M” and “O” were often burned out.
“Then mom would put the No Vacancy sign out, so my brother and I always joked it was the No-tell Motel,” Allan said, chuckling at the memory. He also shared a story that three years ago while traveling through Provo, Utah, he saw a picture that had been taken of that very sign hanging on a wall in a Denny’s restaurant there.
Stan had memories of running the backhoe and lifting his dad up in a specially built rack that would reach high enough for him to work on the sign.
“But, at the time, for this town, it was a unique sign,” Stan said.    
Details of an armed robbery at the Stardust Motel were reported in the Nov. 10, 1977, News Letter Journal. Law enforcement officials were called to the motel to investigate a report of an armed robbery when a man entered the motel about 8:30 p.m. and took about $100 cash from Mrs. L.W. Carlson.
Stan and his girlfriend, Jill, at the time, were living at the motel when the robbery happened.
“While we were staying there, that’s when mom got robbed. He didn’t get as much cash as he could have. He only took what was in the slots; he didn’t pick the tray up and look underneath, and that’s where all the bigger bills were kept,” Stan said, adding that the robber ran away, before his mother dialed his room and told him what happened.
“She tried to give them (police) a description, but was she was so shook up,” Stan added, saying the robbery was never solved.
Stan recalled the time a guy came in who didn’t have enough money to pay for a room.
“He had a pair of .45 pistols and he wanted to hock those for the room. They didn‘t take the pistols. They just took what he had,” Stan explained, saying his dad thought the pistols might have been stolen and he didn’t want any part of that.  
After owning the motel for nearly eight years, Louis Carlson sold it to Hy Lee Jan. 14, 1983.
Jim Lee, son of Hy Lee, recounted some memories of his parents owning the motel for 17 years.
“It was just a mom and pop operation, and Dad was pet friendly. On the check-in desk, there was glass across the top with the prices visible, so you knew just what you were going to pay. It didn’t matter if it was hunting season or biker week, the price didn’t change, and the rates were around $15 for bigger rooms, and maybe $17 for the triple,” said Jim, who added that many regulars would return for a stay and bring his parents gifts of pecans, and meats and cheese.
“If someone came in and didn’t have money to pay or if a church would send someone over, they would just let them stay,” Jim said. 
His parents would open the motel the weekend after Memorial Day and close it down for the winter after hunting season. Jim said he re-sided the motel a time or two, and his boys helped paint it, and that he also helped drain and close it up for the winter. 
Courthouse records show a transfer of the property from Hy Lee Enterprises to Joyce Dilts on Aug. 30, 2000, with Dilts then selling to Robert D. Williamson on June 16, 2003.    
Bob and Shelley Williamson relocated, along with their two children, Nathan and Christne, in 2003 from Sheridan, Wyoming, and Shelley said they purchased the motel from Jo Dilts/Hy Lee. She always felt a family connection to the motel right from the start, mainly due to the name.
“In Sheridan in 1964, my mom won Diamond Jubilee Queen, and her trip was to go to the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas,” she said, stating they had no plans to change the name of the motel after taking ownership.
Shelley said that Bob also ran a construction business, W & S Construction, which left her mainly running the motel operation. The family lived in the two-room office initially, until they eventually added a two-story residence onto the motel. 
She explained some of the initial decisions made for their business operation. 
“We had some of the lowest rates in town. We catered to the ‘working man’ because Bob was a working man,” she said, and his work often took him out of town.
Shelley said the best part of owning the motel for nearly two decades is the friends she made from throughout the world. Many of her customers became her regulars, returning year after year. She even used her knowledge of the German language when she had the chance, which would surprise her customers.
“My grandfather came from Germany,” she explained.
While their children were in school, the Williamsons kept the motel open year round. However after  graduation, they would shut half the motel down. Eventually, the Williamsons decided to close all the rooms after the peak season, which was
from April to November. She also handled all the bookings for the motel, by hand, saying this was all off-line booking.   
The motel also served as an outlet for the Williamsons to help the community and others when needed. Shelley recalled how they arranged to open the motel when Tracy Ragland, the Newcastle High School principal, called to ask if they could open up for a tournament that was going on in town.  
“When they called on us for tournaments, we were there. We are Christians, and we were signed up on the list for the ministerial association and at the police department to provide housing to those in need,” she continued, “One time, we had a man stop and ask if he could rent a room and all he had was $25. And it was cold out, and so we rented him a room.”  
When asked what types of issues she mainly dealt with during the motel’s operation, she said that some issues were domestic and drug
situations.
“I did have a couple maids tell me Room 15 was haunted. They said the curtains would be closed, and then they would look again and the curtains would be open,” she said. 
She recalled having to be stern during Sturgis Rally Week when things would get a little heated among the bikers staying there.
“I would tell them, ‘this is my house,’” she said, adding that her sternness and the use of the phrase worked to diffuse these situations.   
No celebrities stayed at the motel, but Room 18 was probably the closest story she could recall. 
“There was a biker dude from Austria staying in Room 18, who looked a lot like Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the maids came and told me how he liked to stretch in front of the window every morning with nothing on,” she said. 
The motel guest’s body matched Schwarzenegger’s built physique,
she said.
With Bob turning more of the construction business over to their son, Shelley said that they had been wanting to sell the motel.
“I don’t miss the hotel, but I will miss the people,” she said. “We plan to garden, see our parents and family more often, go fishing in the Big Horns and travel more.”  
Bits and pieces of the Stardust have been sold and saved by people within the community. Before demolition, the Williamsons sold interior furnishings from the rooms. The blue tin was salvaged from the roof, along with windows and doors that were removed and sold. The smaller Stardust Motel sign that sat directly in front of the establishment has been sold to Chris and Pam Gualtieri and will be hung from the ceiling in the upstairs of the Antler’s. 
“One of the florescent letters broke in transport. We plan to take the other letters off for backups, and then hang the sign along the wall between the windows. It will be a one-sided sign,” Chris said.
The Williamson family is also holding onto some Stardust memorabilia that will remain near Newcastle. The taller iconic Stardust Motel sign that sat near Washington Boulevard will be erected at their residence on Oil Creek.
While the Stardust Motel’s walls are now gone, seven decades of memories remain for many who sought and found a night’s rest at the iconic motel.