F Street

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142 Lower F Street
Real estate appraisal card. Back yard view of 142 Lower (or North) F Street, in Salida, Colorado.
142 Lower F Street
Real estate appraisal card. 142 Lower (or North) F Street, part of lots 1-4, block 5, in Salida, Colorado. This is currently 140 Lower F Street. The building was erected between 1904 and 1909 and has always been a restaurant. It first housed the Rio Grande Cafe, then the Chili Parlor Restaurant, then the Star Cafe. Mae Prunty bought the place for $1 in 1943 and was subsequently contracted by the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad to serve food to the railroad crew 24 hours a day. In 1951, Neal Prunty took over and renamed it Neal's Cafe. The characters drawn on the inside walls were done by a restaurant employee, Bill Blake. Each of the caricatures represents a person who frequented the cafe. History Colorado's Architectural Inventory Forms have more information and are available at the Salida Library.
147 F Street
Real estate appraisal card. 147 F Street, part of lots 14-17, block 22, in Salida, Colorado. Sanborn maps indicate that this building was erected between 1888 and 1890. The previous building at this location burned in the fire of January 1888, and the Sanborn map of 1888 shows a vacant lot. The present building appears on the 1890 map, when the building housed a saloon (143) and a meat store (147). The meat store was listed in the 1903-04 city directory as Max Lessing Meats. Lessing was also chief of the fire department. He advertised "only the choicest meats, both salt and fresh. Oysters and clams in season can be had at this market." By 1909 the business was known as the Enterprise Meat Market, still operated by Max Lessing. The saloon was replaced by a drugstore that was established in 1897 by R.F. Davis, who was succeeded by E.D. Thompson in 1900. Thompson was a graduate of Northwestern University. He operated a drugstore in Chicago before moving to Colorado in 1894. He lived in Denver before moving to Salida in 1900. Thompson sold drugs, oils, patent medicines, wines, liquors, toilet articles. stationery, rubber goods, sponges, and cigars. His soda fountain was called "a thing of beauty--perhaps the finest in this section of Colorado." In August 1901 George W. Armstrong bought Thompson's drugstore. He enlarged and remodeled the store. Armstrong advertised drugs, patent medicines, toilet articles, and perfumes. A biography of Armstrong published about 1905 called him "one of the leading merchants of Salida." Armstrong was a native of New York, where he attended school and worked in a bank. In 1864, 11e crossed the plains to Colorado, where mined for a year before returning to New York. He engaged in a mercantile business before coming back to Colorado in 1877 and took up mining in Central City. Unsuccessful in his mining ventures, he walked to Denver looking for work, arriving with ten cents in his pocket. Armstrong worked for the wholesale grocery of J.S. Brown & Co. in Denver. In 1880 he opened a grocery in West Denver and was elected to the city council. In 1882 he had started a general store in Montrose County, which expanded with branches in Gunnison County, Debeque, and Parachute. In 1910, Armstrong's drugstore business was purchased by W.C. Alexander, who then operated a drug and jewelry business together. The 1914 Sanborn map shows a grocery and meat store in 143 F St. and a drugstore in 147 F St. The 1922-23 and 1927-28 city directories list W.R. Crylie Meats In 143 F and Waggener's Pharmacy (C.Y. Waggener, proprietor) in 147 F St. By 1930-31 the drugstore had been replaced by Safeway Stores, Inc., Gilbert A. Griffith, manager. The 1945 Sanborn map shows a store and a drugstore in the building. In 1951 and 1961 a pharmacy known as Alexander's, Inc. was operating here owned by Jack Long. Then, it passed hands becoming Lallier's Pharmacy. Today, this is the Salida Five and Dime, noted for its Chaffee County Honor Roll Wall. The names of over 600 veterans were painted on the south wall in 1947. In 1964, the building was coated in stucco to protect the building and the names. In 2015, American Legion historian and veteran Dan Johnson, spearheaded the movement to uncover the stucco, restore the wall, and repaint the names of every Chaffee County veteran of that time. On July 4, 2016, the Chaffee County Honor Roll was rededicated. History Colorado's Architectural Inventory Forms have more information and are available at the Salida Library.
200 F Street
Real estate appraisal card. 200 F Street, part of lots 1-4, block 32, in Salida, Colorado.
201 F Street
Real estate appraisal card. 201 F Street, NELy 25' off lots 11-13, block 31, in Salida, Colorado. This site was where the disastrous fire of January 1888 started in Salida. At that date, Peter Mulvany was completing a three-story brick hotel on the site. A workman dropped a spark into a pile of shavings and within minutes the building was engulfed in flames. The fire soon spread to neighboring buildings, and the heat was so intense that buildings seemed to melt. Losses were estimated at $175,000, with nearly 60 businesses suffering losses. The fire led to greater construction of brick buildings in the downtown district. This building, erected in 1895, housed a fraternal hall of the Knights of Pythias on the second story and the First National Bank on the first story. The building was referred to as the Jones Block in early city directories, presumably after one of the founders of the First National Bank, E.B. Jones. The First National Bank of Salida occupied the main storefront from the time the building opened until 1934, when it moved to 200 F St. In 1889 the Salida News reported that the First National Bank would open in January 1890. The bank was the successor of the Continental Divide Bank. L.W. and D.H. Craig, operators of a pioneer dry goods firm in Salida, started the private Continental Divide Bank, in 1885. They incorporated as the First National Bank in the latter part of 1889. Stockholders were among the most prominent businessmen in the community. Officers and directors included: L.W. Craig, president; E.B. Jones, vice president; Frank 0. Stead, cashier; and L.W. Craig, E.B. Jones, J.G. Hollenbeck, E.R. Naylor, B.H. DeRemer, A.M. Alger, and J.B. Bowne, directors. In 1894 D.H. Craig became a director and in 1895 cashier, a position he continued to hold for many years. By 1900, the bank was called "without question Chaffee county's leading financial institution." Robert Preston, who was president of the bank by 1900, bought controlling interest in the institution in 1903, and the Preston family retained control for many years. In 1902 the bank was described as being conducted along "conservative yet liberal banking lines." By the 1920s it was the county's oldest financial institution. The bank later became a Thatcher bank and then a branch of Pueblo Bank & Trust. Salida had a large number of fraternal organizations. The Knights of Pythias was an international fraternity founded in Washington, D.C. in 1864 by Justus H. Rathbone. The primary goals of fraternal groups were to promote friendship and relieve suffering. Principles of the K. of P. included friendship, charity, and benevolence. The organization sought moral uplifting and purification of society. Strict morality, absolute truthfulness, honor, and integrity were required of its members. The organization began during the Civil War and was the first American order ever chartered by an act of Congress. Members of the organization in Salida were primarily railroad employees. In 1889, the Salida News Holiday Edition recorded, "Iron Mountain Lodge No. 19, Knights of Pythias, is a very popular benevolent society in Salida. It has a very large membership among the people of Salida, and its meetings are always well attended." Members of the organization meet at the Odd Fellow's Hall before they erected their own building. The upstairs of the building reportedly remains much as it was during the time It was a fraternal lodge. By 1914 an office space at the rear of the building facing 2nd Street had been created. For many years, this was the office of Charles F. Johnson, Realty. Johnson was also secretary-treasurer of the Salida Granite Corporation in the 1920s. He was born in Indiana in 1856 and moved to Colorado in 1878. In 1888 he moved to Salida, where he became a civic leader and successful businessman. He was elected city clerk and recorder four times and also served as county treasurer. Koster Insurance and Salida Finance were housed in this building from 1934 to 1986. Harold R. Koster established a real estate, insurance, and loan business in 1923 and the Salida Finance Co. in 1949. History Colorado's Architectural Inventory Forms have more information and are available at the Salida Library.
204 Lower F Street
Real estate appraisal card. 204 Lower (or North) F Street, pt. SE 1/4, SE 1/4, Sec. 32 T 50N R 9E, in Salida, Colorado. The Palace Hotel was erected in 1906 by Ambrose Ramsey. The Salida Mail reported: 'Plans and specifications are now being drawn by Architect Anderson for a two-story brick block to be erected by Mr. A. Ramsey on lots owned by him on lower F Street adjoining the Windsor Cafe. The building will be 48 x 100, the first floor to contain a commodious office and cafe or business room as the owner may decide later, and the second floor will be divided into 25 comfortable sleeping rooms. The building will be strictly modern in every sense the word implies, being heated throughout with hot water and lighted with electricity. The front will be of cut stone and pressed brick and when completed will add very materially to the attractiveness of that section of the city.' Under the direction of Mr. Ramsey, and by April of 1909, the Palace Hotel was complete. The Salida Mail reported: 'Mr. Ramsey's taste in furnishing these rooms is the marvel of it all. Only the most expensive material has been used in the furnishings. Everything known to modern construction and furnishing is placed in this block and there is no argument when we say the building is the finest Salida ever had. It is finished throughout with Texas pine, drawn to the highest polish, even the doors being made of this expensive material, showing the natural grain of the wood ... The building is a credit to Salida and Chaffee County and Mr. Ambrose Ramsey is to be congratulated on finishing such a building. It will stand til eternity.' The cost of the building was $20,000. The 1914 Sanborn map showed that the first floor of the hotel was divided into a restaurant and a hotel office. The adjacent building on the corner to the south was also operated as part of the hotel. In the 1922 city directory, the Palace Hotel, operated by Mr. & Mrs. Egender, advertised 'European, commercial men's headquarters, free bus from depot.' In connection with the hotel, the Egenders operated the Palace Cafe. In 1927, the Salida Mail reported that Dr. R.B. Parris owned and operated the hotel, although most reports state that the Ramseys continued to own the building until 1970. Dr. Parris was from Nebraska and had worked as a dentist in Rocky Ford in 1908. His first hotel venture was in Gunnison, Colorado. The Palace, called a leading Salida hostelry, was described as 'ideally located on the main street within a stone's throw of the Denver & Rio Grande Western station.' By then, the hotel had 52 'sunshiny and airy rooms equipped with hot and cold running water, baths, and all modern conveniences.' History Colorado's Architectural Inventory Forms have more information and are available at the Salida Library.
207 F Street
Real estate appraisal card. 207 F Street, part of lots 9-13, block 31, in Salida, Colorado. This is the Crews-Beggs Mercantile Co. building. The B & C Dry Goods Store was located at 211 F St.
214 F Street
Real estate appraisal card. 214 F Street, lots 1-4, block 32, in Salida, Colorado. This building is no longer standing. Part of the First National Bank is visible in photo, which is also no longer standing.
217 F Street
Real estate appraisal card. 217 F Street, part of lots 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13, block 31, in Salida, Colorado. This building was erected in 1904, according to its stone plaque, and was christened the "Adilas Building" (Adilas is Salida spelled backward). On 1 January 1904, the Salida Record published a drawing of the building and stated, "this handsome building will be named by the people of the county as soon as the foundation is completed. A handsome prize is offered." The building was erected and owned by the Golden Rule Store. The firm stated, "We are now without a doubt enjoying the largest trade in this county and if this is true what an immense advantage we will have over all competitors. We have several stores and sell for strictly cash, therefore we can undersell them all. We care not for Eastern catalogues." The 1904 Sanborn map indicates that the footprint of the building was drawn "from plans," and was to be divided into two storefronts for a dry goods store and a grocery. The 1905-06 city directory indicates that part of the building (219-225) was occupied by the Golden Rule store, which continued to occupy the space into the second half of the twentieth century. The store was advertised as "the cheapest house to buy dress goods, silks, notions, underwear, shoes, carpets, draperies, linoleums, etc." A specialty of the store was the ladies' suit and shirtwaist department. The Golden Rule stores were among the first modern dry goods chain stores in the country. The first store was opened in 1889 in Longmont, Colorado, by Thomas M. Callahan, and it became a model for more than 100 other stores. The stores were very competitive and stocked quality, high­ demand goods at low prices, trading only in cash and carry. James Cash Penney was one of the early operators of a Golden Rule store and later founded his own department store chain. Rosslyn and Lee Scamehorn have written a history of the Callahan family and their Golden Rule stores. Around 1891, Burr Fisher, a brother-in-law of T.M. Callahan, opened the first Golden Rule Store in Salida. In 1899, C.H. Ramsay, brother-in-law of Fisher and Callahan, acquired control of the store, which was managed by local people. C.H.R. Warriner & Son, a San Diego mercantile business, gained control of the store sometime before 1911. They quickly sold the store and its contents to A. Rosenquist, of Geneva, Nebraska, who, in turn, sold it to a Kearney, Nebraska company. The store then closed. The 1914 Sanborn map shows a bakery, a meat market, and a confectionery in the building. Thomas M. Callahan, Katherine M. Ryan, and Ira T. Letford, partners in the Golden Rule Mercantile Co., announced within months that the New York Store would open in the former Golden Rule space. Letford served as manager of the Salida store and Theresa M. Ryan (sister of Katherine Ryan) was the clerk. From 1913 to 1922, T.M. Callahan spent much of his time in Salida, according to the Scamehorns. The store was apparently rechristened the Golden Rule Mercantile Co., which is how it is listed in the 1922-23 city directory. Theresa Ryan became a partner-manager after Letford left the business in 1918. In August 1922, Callahan sold the Salida store to Ryan & Ryan (composed of Katherine, Theresa, and James R. Ryan). Theresa M. Ryan then managed the Salida store, while Katherine and James Ryan managed the company's stores in Gooding and Blackfoot, Idaho. A 1922 article in the Salida Mail called Theresa Ryan "one of the cleverest merchants in the United States." In 1949 the company advertised dry goods, ready-to-wear, shoes, and men's furnishings, and was operated by Theresa M. Ryan and Edmund J. Finn. The Golden Rule Mercantile Company was still listed at this address in the 1951 city directory. The other store in this building by 1905-06 was the drugstore of George W. Armstrong. In August 1901 Armstrong had acquired Thompson's drugstore in Salida. He enlarged and remodeled the store in the 100 block of F Street, and advertised drugs, patent medicines, toilet articles, and perfumes. A biography of Armstrong published about 1905 called him "one of the leading merchants of Salida." Armstrong was a native of New York, where he attended school and worked in a bank. In 1864, he crossed the plains to Colorado, where he mined for a year before returning to New York. He engaged in a mercantile business before coming back to Colorado in 1877 and took up mining in Central City. Unsuccessful in his mining ventures, he walked to Denver looking for work, arriving with ten cents in his pocket. Armstrong worked for the wholesale grocery of J.S. Brown & Co. in Denver. In 1880 he opened a grocery in West Denver and was elected to the city council. In 1882, he started a general store in Montrose county, which expanded with branches in Gunnison County, Debeque, and Parachute. In 1910, Armstrong's business was purchased by W.C. Alexander, who then operated a drug and jewelry business. The upstairs of the building originally contained a large hall. In 1906, the Salida Mail reported that the hall, "one of the largest and very best in the city except perhaps Elk Hall" had been converted into offices. In 1922-23 the city directory indicated that Mary Stokes, cloak and suit maker, was occupying 215 F. In the 1927-28 directory this business was listed as The Stokes Company, Inc., and was still at this address. On the 1945 Sanborn map, a movie theater is indicated in 215. By 1951, only the Golden Rule Mercantile was listed at this address. History Colorado's Architectural Inventory Forms have more information and are available at the Salida Library.
220 F Street
Real estate appraisal card. 220 F Street, part of lots 1-4, block 32, in Salida, Colorado. The Sandusky building is currently 222 F Street. This building is associated with the development of dry goods businesses in Salida, having been built between 1906 and 1909 to house S.W. Sandusky Dry Goods. The company traced its roots to the origins of the city in 1880, and S.W. Sandusky was a pioneer merchant, who operated the oldest dry goods business in Salida into the 1930s. In 1880, L.W. and D.H. Craig founded a dry goods business in Salida known as Craig Brothers. In 1885 that firm was succeeded by Craig & Sandusky. Craig & Sandusky was operated by D.H. Craig, who later became cashier of the First National Bank, and S.W. Sandusky. The business lost about $3,000 in the fire of 1886. In 1891 Sandusky bought out Craig's interest in the business, which was the oldest dry goods house in Chaffee County and the second oldest mercantile business in Salida. S.W. Sandusky's Dry Goods Store carried dry goods, carpets, and shoes in 1900. In 1904 S.W. Sandusky noted that his firm had never intentionally bought a poor article of merchandise, although profit might have been greater on cheaper goods. It was a source of pride for the firm that most of its customers had been purchasing from Sandusky's for many years. This building was erected between 1906 and 1909 by S.W. Sandusky, who was born in Missouri and had come to Salida in 1881. Sandusky's Dry Goods continued to operate at this address through the 1920s. Sandusky stated, "A man would come in and say he wanted an outfit. At a glance I could guess his size. For about thirty bucks he could get clothes that stood up under hard usage--such things as California-made red flannels cut from cloth, blue wool shirts, and a pair of tough boots." By 1951, Everybody's Store, a dry goods firm owned by Arthur E. Costello, operated here. This store was still listed here in 1961. History Colorado's Architectural Inventory Forms have more information and are available at the Salida Library.
226 Lower F Street
Real estate appraisal card. 226 Lower (or North) F Street, part of SE 1/4. section 32 T, 50N R 9E. This building is currently 216 Lower F Street. The 1903 city directory lists the Donmyer & Haley Restaurant in this building, William J. Donmyer and Joseph L. and John E. Haley, proprietors. The 1909 Sanborn map indicates that the building still housed a restaurant but by 1929 it had become store space. It then reverted back to a restaurant by 1945. History Colorado's Architectural Inventory Forms have more information and are available at the Salida Library.
229 F Street
Real estate appraisal card. 129 F Street, lot 19, block 31, in Salida, Colorado. Mislabeled as 129 F Street. Sanborn maps indicate that this buildng was erected about 1888, when the present building is shown and indicated as "not completed." The 1890 and 1893 Sanborn maps show a grocery on the first story and a photography studio on the second. In 1898, the Sanborn map Indicates that a printing shop was on the first story and a photo studio was on the second. The 1903-04 city directory lists Charles E. Skinner, "artistic photographs, all sizes and descriptions, views of residences, finishing for amateurs, Kodak supplies (ground floor)." The Salida Record described Skinner as "one of the finest photographic artists in the state." He specialized in portraits and outdoor views, as well as interiors of buildings. Skinner had previously been a photographer in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska, and in San Francisco. He moved to Salida about 1900, and several of his photographs appeared in a special edition of the Salida Record on 19 September 1902. Also listed In the building in 1903-04 was the Record Publishing Company, publishers of the Salida Record, a newspaper. Henry J. Faull was secretary and treasurer of the company and Paul B. Smith was editor and president of the company. [For many years, there were two newspapers in Salida: the Mail and the Record. In 1948 Leigh Abbey bought both newspapers and merged them into the Salida Mountain Mail.] The newspaper was still operating here in 1905-06, when Oren R. Meacham was listed as the editor and manager. In that year. Joseph L. Barber's photographic studio and residence was also located in this building. Barber advertised "local view work a specially." Also operating in the building was Francis H. Droney, real estate, loans, fire and life insurance and notary public, who advertised offices in the Record Building. By 1909 Henry R. Hay's photography studio was operating in the building (second story), along with the store of Mrs. T.W. Maurice, dressmaker. The Record had moved to 129-31 E. 2nd St. The 1914 Sanborn map indicates that the building housed a bookstore on the first story and a photographic studio on the second. The 1922-23 city directory lists Messenger's Book Store at this address. The store, operated by Leman W. and Myrtle Messenger, advertised books, magazines, stationery, school supplies, tourist novelties, Baldwin pianos, and sheet music. The 1945 Sanborn map shows a photo studio in this building. The 1951 city directory listed the Hay Photography Studio and Meinen Jewelry (watches, diamonds, repairs) operated by Fred H. Meinen. In 1961 Morris Photo Shop was located here and operated by Roy E. Morris. History Colorado's Architectural Inventory Forms have more information and are available at the Salida Library.

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