MILTON HINNANT/DMN

Bobby K. Steen (left) and his wife, Gale, sit in front of Steen's Motel with Ed Gray, chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustments and Appeals. The motel, located at 913 Manning St. in Grand Prairie, was built by Mr. Steen in 1959.

Plug in two quarters, and the rotary dial pay phone buzzes to life, just as it has for decades at the tiny motel on Manning Street.

"People here at the motel use it all the time," said Bobby K. Steen, who has owned and operated Steen's Motel in Grand Prairie's Dalworth area for nearly half a century.

With its manicured grounds and clean, tidy rooms, the red and white one-story building looks about the same as always. The world, Mr. Steen says, has changed around it.

"You could take a time machine and set it back to 1968 and you'd be here at Steen's," said Ed Gray, chair of the city's Zoning Board.

Mr. Steen moved from Dallas to Grand Prairie to open his business in 1959 at age 27. At 76, Mr. Steen, along with his wife, Gale, is still running the motel he built when segregation divided the city.

"Back during the day, if you were black, you came here," Mr. Steen said. "This was the only place blacks could go."

One of the first African-American owned businesses in Grand Prairie, Steen's Motel is a piece of city history that Mr. Gray wanted to share. He helped secure its recent designation as a city historic landmark. "I wanted to make sure Dalworth was recognized and not left behind," he said.

For his preservation efforts, Mr. Gray was among those honored by the Grand Prairie Historical Organization at the group's awards ceremony on Wednesday. As area service manager for AT&T, Mr. Gray first visited Steen's when he was paying a courtesy call in the community – checking on service Mr. Steen was receiving on the rotary phone.

"Mr. Steen built this motel with his hands. He did it with his own resources. He didn't use any government assistance. He used his own knowledge, his own resources and a desire to give something back," Mr. Gray said.

"I wanted to be self-employed and work for myself," Mr. Steen explained. "And I wanted to do something to help the black people."

The nine units rent for $30 a night or $110 a week.

"This is a place where – if you have a job and you work hard – you can get ahead," Mr. Steen said.

Mr. Steen is proud of the silver landmark medallion displayed on the front of his business. "I never would have thought this would happen in a million years," he said.

Ironically, desegregation led to the demise of many local businesses. But Steen's Motel survived through the lean times. "We weathered the storm – with God's help," Mr. Steen said. "We've hung on through the years, and we'll try and just keep going. This is my job. This is home."

Barrie Page Hill is a freelance writer in Arlington.

barriepagehill@hotmail.com