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The rise of the automobile played a significant role in how Fayetteville grew in the early 1900s.

The city, halfway between New York and Florida, sprouted with gas stations, restaurants and motels catering to a new type of traveler.

To help tell that story, the city is developing an annex to the Fayetteville Area Transportation and Local History Museum. The new section will be in a brick building next to the museum, which opened in 2006 in the former Cape Fear and Yadkin Railroad depot on Franklin Street.

The city refurbished the depot, which houses exhibits from canoes and steamboats to wagons and trains. But the building from the 1890s isn't big enough, so the annex will focus on the auto and aviation industries with glass and wall displays, artifacts and a vintage vehicle or two, said Bruce Daws, the city's historic properties manager.

As Americans began to travel more in the 1920s and '30s, Fayetteville became an unofficial midway point between New York and Florida, Daws said.

"So this became a layover area," he said.

Motorists required road service, eateries and places to sleep. That's one reason, he said, the Hotel Prince Charles opened in the 1920s for wealthier guests.

The city bought the hotel's original set of front doors - encased in a solid oak frame more than 7feet tall - that will be on display. It's the kind of nostalgia older visitors will like, he said. In the hotel's heyday, it was a place to eat lunch after church or attend a civic club meeting.

The museum annex is months away from opening, but the building's front windows facing West Russell Street offer a glimpse of what to expect. Red gas pumps, with evolving technologies, are on display with names such as Texaco, Esso and Sinclair. The "modern'' gas pump in the lineup is more than 50 years old, harking from an era when lead was an ingredient in gasoline that cost pennies a gallon. The unit's rotary dials allowed for a maximum sale of $9.99.

A general contractor has redone the inside of the annex, installing light fixtures and wall panelings and rebuilding the bathrooms. Work started last year.

Inside, the original concrete floor has been polished off, exposing a speckled aggregate material reminiscent of car dealerships generations ago. And artifacts, such as gas lanterns and a Ford Model T engine, have been pulled out of boxes shipped from area antique dealers and eBay.

"Of course, we'd like to get donations whenever possible," Daws said.

The city is spending about $350,000 on the annex's reconstruction and the exhibits that will go inside. Most of the money has come from the N.C. Department of Transportation's Enhancement Division. Local businesses made contributions. The city owns the block and the three buildings on it, including the one leased to Cape Fear Studios adjacent to the museum annex.

The state's Enhancement Division paid for the bulk of the flagship transportation museum in the old depot - a project that cost almost $3 million.

The museum sees about 175 visitors a week, not counting school groups, Daws said.

With the annex, Daws hopes more people will see a more complete history of travel.