Contents of Vernelle’s Motel near Arlington to be auctioned on Saturday

The contents of the closed Vernelle’s Motel near Arlington, Missouri, will be auctioned Saturday afternoon, Sept. 24.

The sale by Grovers Auction Service will include plenty of antiques, including a wringer washer, a Pepsi vending machine, metal chairs, and — get this — an honest-to-goodness telephone booth. The auction also will include the contents of an antique store on the property.

The Vernelle’s Motel account on Facebook posted the sale bill:

The Vernelle’s Motel property, along with its neon sign, will be put on the market at a later date.

Vernelle’s first opened as Gasser Tourist Court in 1938. Its name changed in the early 1950s when Fred and Vernelle Gasser bought the property and added a restaurant there, which closed a few years later with the widening of Route 66.

Vernelle’s seemed to be at a cursed location along its twisty section of road west of Doolittle. First, the construction of Interstate 44 during the 1960s cut off easy access to the motel except by a frontage road.

Then, in the early 2000s, a new alignment of I-44 moved the highway to the north, to where the motel couldn’t be seen at all unless you exited at Sugartree Road.

Vernelle’s closed in 2016 due to health reasons for the longtime owner, Ed Goodridge. He died in February at the age of 85.

(Vintage postcard image of Vernelle’s Motel during the 1950s via Route66Motels.com)

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