Viewpoint: When Tourism Is History: Travel and the Construction of the Past in Cooperstown, New York

On June 18, 1955, the seventeen-room Lake Front Motel opened at the south end of Otsego Lake in Cooperstown, New York (Figure 1). Alfred W. Engelmann, a former New York City plumber, and his wife Paula invested $50,000 in the structure. Mrs. Engelmann chose aqua blue siding with Chinese red trim for the exterior of the building, which was designed with ship-like curves and nautical motifs such as captain’s wheels to emphasize its lakeside location. Each room’s interior was painted a different pastel shade and perhaps more importantly included its own private bathroom with a shower. As a whole, the complex “with glass-walled snack bar, outdoor eating facilities and ample parking space” provided both the services and aesthetics that tourists expected in a modern motel.¹

In the spring of 2009, the current owner Paula Wikoff, granddaughter of the Engelmanns, began a long permitting process that would eventually lead to extensive interior and exterior changes to the building. Wikoff argued that the 1950s appearance made the property, which had been expanded to both sides of Fair Street by the end of the 1950s, seem old and rundown. She stated that people called it gaudy and suggested it be torn down and replaced with a park. She proposed a major facelift to update the structure, drawing inspiration from other waterfront examples in places as diverse as Florida and Cape Cod.²

Perusing online comments on TripAdvisor shows Mrs. Wikoff’s remarks were not completely off the mark. The building did look dated. For some, such as a 2010 guest from Pennsylvania who visited after interior renovations had begun, this was a positive. He reported, “I’m usually hesitant to stay at local ‘mom & pop’ hotels, this motel just changed my mind! The location is exception[al], right on Lake Otsego, it has a ton of retro charm on the outside, but very nicely updated on the inside.” But for others, particularly those who stayed before any interior improvements occurred, the appearance was a decided negative. A Massachusetts woman who visited in 2009, recorded, “TINY rooms, old old old. Needs major updates.” A tourist from Maine who visited in 2007 reported, “The decor of the motel as a whole is really dated. The nautical theme is hokey, the anchors on every door reminded me not of seafaring (on a lake?!?), but more of an old Quincy re-run, and the borderline pink carpeting in the room and forest green carpeting on the outside walkways is, to say the least retro, and not in a good way.”³

Figure 1.

Postcard of the Lake Front Motel, Cooperstown, New York, circa 1957. The Lake Front Motel emphasized its lakeside location not only through its name but also its aqua blue color and nautical decorative motifs. Ample parking, a glass-walled snack bar, and private bathrooms with showers distinguished it from older establishments in Cooperstown. Courtesy the postcard collection of the New York State Historical Association Research Library, Cooperstown, N.Y.

The Lake Front Motel and the desire of the current owner and some guests to physically alter its appearance serve as an inspiration for this article. My title, “When Tourism Is History,” is intended to have two meanings. First, tourism, like any industry, ebbs and flows, as changing trends, demographics, transportation networks, and economics make some places that were once quite popular as tourist destinations later virtual ghost towns. In Cooperstown—a place that has become synonymous with baseball—homerun records, steroid use, players’ strikes, and playoff berths all influence how many people choose to travel to a rather remote upstate New York location. For the owners and stewards of facilities that cater to tourists, be they for-profit enterprises like the Lake Front Motel or nonprofit institutions such as the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, staying ahead (or at least abreast) of travel trends and targeting and marketing to appropriate audiences is critical to success, usually measured by number of visitors and income generated. Tourism...