The end of this place
Back in March 2013, I posted some photos of an abandoned small-town motel, Crider’s Motel, in Johnson City, Texas. One of the blog posts was titled “Crider’s Motel may be past its prime.”
Time passed. I never went back to Johnson City to see what was going on.
Then, on November 21, I had a comment on one of those posts from Sandra Trevino, who said, “The Crider motel was torn down today. It was a blast from the past.”
And sure enough, it was. Here’s the newspaper article about it. And here, bordered in black because I’m sad the place is gone, are those images from 2013:
Johnson City, Texas
photographed 3.9.2013
Posted on December 1, 2016, in Photography and tagged 365 photo project, abandoned buildings, architecture, black and white photography, johnson city, johnson city texas, melinda green harvey, monochrome, NIK Silver Efex Pro 2, one day one image, photo a day, photography, postaday, texas. Bookmark the permalink. 14 Comments.
One Day | One Image 
The emptiness in these shots is striking and touching. Good job.
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Thank you, Christian. I’m really glad – give the outcome of this place – that I spent some time there making these images.
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The link wouldn’t work, so I guess they’re putting up a parking lot where the motel was!
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I’m not sure what happened with the link – it seems to work on my end of things. But to summarize – the owner doesn’t have any plans for the newly-cleared land. And when Lyndon Johnson was president and went home to Johnson City, his staff would stay at the Crider.
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Your 2013 images speak of abandonment…..shame you never returned, but that’s life
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So very many places to go, so few vacation days to get there…
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Ah well, true!
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Nice set, Melinda.
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This place had the best chairs. Too bad it’s gone now. Some of my favourite spots to shoot here in town have been renovated, or are being built upon and it feels like there are holes left. I guess I’ll need to find new spots that work the same way for me.
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I’ve thought about doing more posts like this one when I discover a location I’ve photographed has been demolished. That might get too depressing, though, because there are a lot of them.
And yes – those were fantastic chairs. I hope someone saved them.
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This is beautiful documentary work.
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Thanks – I was so glad the reader happened to let me know this place had been torn down (although I was sad by the news). A lot of these places I photograph I only see once, so I appreciate the updates.
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The Crider Motel was a lively place with USSS agents and White House Staff during LBJ visits to the Ranch. This was a Mom and Pop operation and they also operated a small diner and had great short order breakfast, lunch, and dinner special was always fried chicken or chicken fried steak. Lots of memories, after a 12 hour shift a bed close by without driving to San Antonio or Austin was a welcome site.
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Donald – thank you so much for the but of Crider Motel history. I’m glad I happened across the place, and that I was able to spent a nice hour or so photographing it.
Thanks, too, for following my blog!
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