L
ong distance travel in the early
days of the automobile was
difficult, and comforts along the
way were few. Motorists pitched
their own tents and cooked their own
meals in the auto tourist camps that
soon sprang up along the nation's
roads. Some were free; others were
operated by a commercial businessman.
Pay camps, with more conveniences,
soon became common.
The relative advantages and
disadvantages of the free auto camp for
its sponsoring town were discussed by
the magazine Trade Exhibit (Omaha)
on Oct. 1, 1926: "There is a great
difference of opinion about the merits
of the free camp. Some towns have
gotten away from it, claiming that
it brought motor tramps who hung
around, in some cases even living on
the town….
"Certainly in a town of any size,
where many tourists stop, it is
almost essential to have some sort of
supervision. This costs money. If the
town feels that the benefits derived
offset the expense and the undesirable
features, then it undoubtedly pays to
continue the free camp.
"There is no question but that a nice
camp does make a favorable impression
on the large number of tourists who
are not of the 'tramp' variety. The
majority of them reciprocate by making
purchases in the town – gasoline and
oil if nothing else, but usually groceries
as well. Some of them would rather
pay and have the benefit of the added
protection. Others would rather seek
the free camp."
The Trade Exhibit closed its article
on the advantages and disadvantages of
the free auto camp with the following
poem skewering the typical "Flivver
Hobo":
He owns a dented tin machine,
A roll of ragged bedding,
Perhaps sufficient gasoline
To last to where he's heading;
Some pots and pans, a dirty tent,
Some rusty spades and axes –
He needs no home, he pays no rent,
He never heard of taxes!
The Flivver Hobo is a tramp
I met in hordes last summer,
At many a town's Free Auto Camp –
A most accomplished bummer. ■
John Nelson's photograph shows a homemade auto camper.
NSHS,
RG3542-124-1
A Brief History
Free Auto Camps
By Patricia C. Gaster,
Nebraska State Historical Society
10 NEBRASKAland • MAY 2015
