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Colorado town of Red Cliff's town hall looks to adapt as community changes; building added to "Most Endangered Places" list
By Kevin Strong
Nestled in the mountains between Minturn and Leadville, the quiet town of Red Cliff has had to reinvent itself many times as the years have passed. Like most mountain towns, a community sprung up as miners toiled to pull riches from the rocks. World War II saw the 10th Mountain Division call the hills outside Red Cliff home, and the town supported thousands of soldiers training there. When the war ended, the soldiers put away their guns but kept their skis and a new industry sprung up -- skiing and tourism. Unlike Vail and other now-thriving resort communities, Red Cliff has retained its quiet, authentic mountain town feel, and residents wouldn't have it any other way.
"Not a lot of fru-fru," says Bob Oppenheimer. "And that's why most people that are attracted to this place are here. It feels authentic."
If you look down any of the streets, the buildings look frozen in time. One in particular captured Oppenheimer's attention, a small, white wood frame building with the words "TOWN HALL" painted onto its facade.
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"It's likely the oldest building in town. I wondered about the historical significance of it. Was it really the town hall or was that something that someone put on the outside?" wondered Oppenheimer as he walked the snowpacked ground around the building describing its features. It did, in fact serve as the town hall, but first and foremost, it was Red Cliff's first fire station, built out of necessity.
"It was built in 1887, which is after the last of two fires in 1882 and 1883, fires that burned down a lot of the town," Oppenheimer said.
Those two fires prompted the town to install a municipal water system to fight future fires, and with that came the firehouse. The large room on the second floor provided ample space for town offices as well. The Italianate architectural details show the influence of the immigrant community who settled here to work the mines and build the town.
Over the years, the town offices moved to a vacant school building, and the small wood building found itself relegated to storage. Two old original fire carts still fill the ground floor, along with benches and other forgotten items. The foundation has settled, the floor has sagged, the doors no longer keep out the elements. Limited resources in the town make maintenance difficult.
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"From a financial perspective, as much as this is very important and nobody is opposed to it, it also continues to be pushed down on the priority list," says town manager Melissa Matthews.
Time may not be on their side. The crumbling foundation has given the building a bit of a lean. Matthews wonders how many more winters the building may have left. They want to keep the building around because it's a tangible link to the town's past.
"There's a lot of history in this town in regard to actual history stories, but not much to show for it, so trying to preserve one of the last pieces of history that's visible," Matthews said.
Red Cliff
Those involved in working to save the old town hall say it's critical to maintaining that authentic mountain town feel, especially as rapid growth in other communities chips away at the historic fabric.
"There is a desire within the community now, maybe grasping, grasping onto that history," says Matthews. "What can we preserve, what can we do so it doesn't completely disappear and we are just a bunch of houses in the middle of the mountains?"
Bob Oppenheimer is ready to roll up his sleeves to help.
"I know it can be done. even if we took it apart stick by stick, put a new foundation down and rebuilt it stick by stick, it's worth it again," he said.
The Red Cliff town hall is one of four sites added to the "Colorado's Most Endangered Places" list. This is a list put out by Colorado Preservation, Inc. whose mission is to facilitate the preservation of historic sites across the state. The other sites on this year's list are the Knearl Building in Brush, the Newman Drug Store and Granada Fish Market in Granada, and the Indiana Jones Bed and Breakfast, in Antonito.
