So in 1985, Taylor decided to buy it — or at least a good chunk.
On 25 of the 360 acres he purchased now stand the rebuilt gas station and Victory Lane Cafe, the non-denominational Little Church of Hope and the town’s economic centerpiece: A 177-lot Ramblin’ Roads RV park with two clubhouses and an 18-hole golf course.
Taylor backed all the ventures between 1987 and 1999.
Said Ed Kraus, who has migrated to Hope from Iowa for the past 19 winters, “He’s the one that invented it. There was nothing there when they bought it except an old service station.”
Folks who visit his Western Car Wash at Columbia Street and Western Avenue can now get a glimpse of Hope, too. Taylor’s daughter, Lori, had a mural of its sights done while her father was in Hope over the winter.
“I wanted to surprise him,” she said.
Tom Taylor, who was suitably surprised, said a couple things made him think down-on-its-luck Hope had a future:
First, its location in the mountainous Sonoran Desert, where wildflowers bloom in the cooler months and the temperatures stay warm. “It’s not desert as you’d think of desert,” he said. “It’s surrounded by mountain skyline.
Second, during the 1980s, an increasing number of Californians migrating to Prescott, Ariz., were traveling through Hope on U.S. 60.
There was third motivation: boredom.
“At the time, I was kind of retired and looking for something to do,” said the previous manager of family-owned Taylor Manufacturing. “I was feeling adventurous,” a quality he admits gave all three of his wives (he’s now single) cause for apprehension at one time or another.
Given that he’s been able to carve out a successful niche in an area that doesn’t lack for RV parks, Hope seems to have been just what Tom Taylor was looking for.
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0368 or tstafford@coxohio.com.
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