127 E. 1st Street

Description

Real estate appraisal card. 127 E. 1st Street, lot 7, block 22, in Salida, Colorado. The 1890 Sanborn map shows a two-story frame restaurant on this site, while the 1893 map is labeled "ruin of fire." The 1898 map shows a one-story rectangular building indicated as a vacant store. The January 1, 1903 Salida Mail records that the Salida Mail added a second story to its business building at a cost of $2,650 in 1902. The upstairs offices housed professionals, according to the city directory of 1903-04, such as William N. Keller and John F. Roe, both physicians. A history of the newspaper was published in the October 17, 1955 edition of the Mountain Mail. The Mountain Mail, founded by M.R. Moore and H.C. Olney, began publication in South Arkansas on June 5, 1880, just a month after the D&RG had reached the settlement. Governor Hunt, representing the Salida Town Company, offered Moore and Olney a lot in town to establish a newspaper. They rented type and presses previously used by the Cleora Journal. The paper changed from weekly to daily and its name became the Salida Mail on January 20, 1882. The masthead slogan was "Colorado produces millions of silver and silver is King." In 1883, W.W. Wallace (formerly of Coal Creek) purchased the newspaper. H.C. Crawford and J.F. Erdlen acquired the paper in 1884; Erdlen stayed with the paper for 20 years, but Crawford's interest was sold to A.J. Truesdell (from Minnesota) less than a year later. In March 1888, the publication was a semi-weekly and cost $2.50 per year. The publishers had created a semi-weekly in 1885. C.F. Brown purchased Truesdell's interest in July 1888, and Brown sold his part of the business to Erdlen in 1890. In 1903, Erdlen sold the Mail to L.A. Hollenbeck and T. "Ed" Jarrett. Jarrett, due to poor health, transferred his interest to his mother, Sarah E. Jarrett, in March 1904. In June 1904, Hollenbeck sold his interest to Mrs. Jarrett and M.M. Smith, who had been a railroad employee for 20 years. In 1904, the Mail Publishing Co., with Smith as president, became owner of the paper. John Erdlen became publisher again in 1905 after S.J. England. and then Sarah Jarrett acquired the paper. Jarrett sold her interest to Mrs. Frances Fuller in the same year, with the operating firm known as England and Fuller. In 1906 E.A. Newton, formerly of the Alamosa Courier, became publisher and A.M. Hubert of the Mail served as editor. Newton sold his interest to John M. O'Connell of Denver, who became editor, in 1915. The Mail became a daily again in 1936. In 1948, O'Connell retired, selling to Leigh M. Abbey, of Kansas, who had also purchased the Salida Record and consolidated the two newspapers. Abbey sold the newspaper to George E. Oyler in 1951. George Oyler subsequently changed the name back to The Mountain Mail. The Mail was listed at this address in the 1909 city directory, but the 1911-12 city directory listed the newspaper (issued on Tuesdays and Fridays) at 211 F Street. The 1914 Sanborn map showed a book and stationery store in the front two-story part of the building and a printer's shop at the rear. In 1922, Coe Branch, a furniture dealer, was operating here. The Coe Furniture Company was also listed here in the 1927 and 1930-31 city directories. Braswell Auto Parts (Frank Braswell, owner) was located at this address in 1951. History Colorado's Architectural Inventory Forms have more information and are available at the Salida Library.