The restaurant at Roberts’s Motel is shown in this 1953 photograph. Roberts Motel, which still stands on Roanoke Street in Christiansburg, was built for Lonnie Roberts by contractor Morris Miller in 1941. The motel featured twenty-seven “cabins,” a restaurant, and an Esso service station. Motels were common fixtures along U. S. 11/Lee Highway, which was completed as through Christiansburg in 1926. It was among the earliest motels in the county. (This photo, from the D. D. Lester Collection, and many more are available from the Montgomery Museum of Art and History.)
