DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official Texas Historical Commission marker has to say about Rainbow Tourist Camp and Courts in Milam County. Now, some stories start with a grand vision. Some start with a fire.
This one starts with a campsite — and ends with iris plants that are still blooming to this day. Pull up a chair, because this one's got staying power. We're talking about the early decades of the twentieth century, when the open road was still a wild and dusty proposition.
Travelers needed somewhere to stop, somewhere with at least a few amenities to make the night bearable. That's where roadside camps came in — humble beginnings, but they were the seeds of something bigger. By the 1920s, those camps were growing up, putting on airs, adding actual cottages.
The age of the tourist court had arrived. Out near Rockdale, Texas, a man named Nathan Monroe Bullock — N.M. to those who knew him — saw the whole thing coming. He was a member of the State Mining Board, mind you, not some idle dreamer.
But in 1918 he opened Rainbow Tourist Camp right there near his home, and he planted a flag in the future of Texas travel. His wife, Lenora, was right there with him, and by the 1920s the two of them were adding cottages to the camp, turning a roadside stop into something that looked like it meant to stay. Then 1930 came along and burned his house to the ground.
Now, a lesser man might've taken that as a sign. N.M. Bullock took it as a floor plan.
He rebuilt — this time with an attached motel office — and constructed additional cottages while he was at it. The man did not slow down. But here's where the road really opens up.
In 1936, U.S. Highway 79 came cutting right through Rockdale. When a highway finds your front door, business doesn't just pick up — it booms.
And N.M. Bullock, knowing a good thing when he saw it, called in his brother, Ira Benjamin Bullock — I.B. — to help run the courts. Two brothers, one rainbow, and a highway full of travelers.
That's a recipe. N.M. passed on in 1945, and I.B. bought the tourist courts from the estate. He wasn't just holding the place together — he expanded it.
Purchased additional space, added more rooms, renovated the facilities. Rainbow Courts kept growing under his watch. I.B.
Bullock died in 1970. Five years later, in 1975, his wife, Algia Mae Bullock, sold Rainbow Courts Motel to their daughter and her husband. The family thread, still holding.
Now here's the part that ought to stop you cold. Many of those cottages standing on the property today are the original structures from the 1920s. Think about that.
Wood frame construction, piers and beam foundations, built with carports tucked right in through an inline power-sharing design. They've been renovated, sure. The mission revival style parapets and flat roofs got covered over with gabled metal roofs somewhere along the way.
The motel office was remodeled with an Austin stone veneer back in the 1950s. But the bones are old. The layout is still the classic U-shape it always was.
And those iris plants — the ones Lenora Bullock put in the ground herself — they are still blooming on that property. From a campsite in 1918 to cottages that outlasted the century, Rainbow Courts didn't just shelter travelers passing through Rockdale. It helped write the story of how Texas learned to hit the road.
Some legacies fade. Some of them bloom every spring.
What the marker says
In the first decades of the twentieth century, affordable roadside accommodations began with campsites equipped with amenities. These eventually developed into cottage style courts in the 1920s. Nathan Monroe (N.M.) Bullock, a member of the State Mining Board, opened Rainbow Tourist Camp near his Rockdale home in 1918. By the 1920s, Bullock and his wife, Lenora, added cottages to the camp. A fire destroyed Bullock’s house in 1930, but he rebuilt it with an attached motel office and constructed additional cottages. In 1936, when U.S. Highway 79 was built through town, business boomed and Bullock called in his brother, Ira Benjamin (I.B.), to assist in running the courts. After N.M. Bullock died in 1945, his brother purchased the tourist courts. He purchased additional space, added more rooms, and renovated much of the facilities. I.B. Bullock died in 1970 and in 1975 his wife, Algia Mae Bullock, sold Rainbow Courts Motel to their daughter and her husband. Many of the cottages present are the original structures from the 1920s, although renovated. The cottages were originally constructed as wood frame with piers and beam foundations. The cottages were built to include carports within an inline power-sharing design. The mission revival style cottages’ parapets and flat roofs have been covered with gabled metal roofs. The motel office was remodeled with an Austin stone veneer in the 1950s. The layout of the motel cottages is still a classic “u” shape. Iris plants, first planted by Lenora Bullock, still bloom on the property. Rainbow Courts had a significant impact on the evolution of travel and tourism in Rockdale and the State of Texas.