Group chalks one up for old schoolhouses

Three are among sites slated for list of endangered places

Mary Voelz Chandler, Rocky Mountain News

Published February 9, 2006 at midnight

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Three historic schoolhouses - including a Georgetown building that has become a passion of preservationists - are among the five sites that Colorado Preservation Inc. will add to its Most Endangered Places List today.

The roster, begun in 1998, now climbs to 60 buildings and natural features around the state.

"The 2006 list represents Colorado's transition from ranching, mining, railroading and agriculture to high-tech and tourism, as well as the challenges involved in preserving significant reminders of our past for use in the future," said Patricia Holcomb, technical adviser for Colorado Preservation.

The additions, to be announced during the group's annual Saving Places conference in Denver, are:

• The 1874 brick Georgetown School, which needs stabilization and restoration. The Georgetown Trust for Conservation and Preservation Inc., an affiliate of Historic Georgetown Inc., has a $281,250 grant from the State Historical Fund for acquisition and is in final negotiations to buy the building.

• The 1911 brick Daniels Schoolhouse in Milliken, owned by descendants of the Daniels family, who originally donated the land on which it sits. It may be the last surviving rural, brick schoolhouse in Weld County and is deteriorating to the point where its bell tower has fallen in.

• The 1915 stucco-covered Colona School and Grange in Colona. The structure, on U.S. 550 between Ridgway and Montrose, still serves Grange and other community groups, but deferred maintenance and damage from vibrations have taken a toll.

• The structures in the Commodore Mine District just north of Creede. They housed a massive silver mining operation in the late 1800s but closed in 1976. Last year's record snowpack and summer heat resulted in a spring thaw that propelled thousands of tons of waste rock downstream into the complex. The structures need stabilization.

• The Como Depot, traced back to 1886 but empty since 1938. It sits between two South Park buildings that have been restored - a hotel used as a seasonal restaurant and a roundhouse - and officials worry about continued damage from the area's severe weather.

CPI panels chose the sites from 42 nominations, including several from Denver that did not make the cut, such as Harman Hall and Temple Emmanuel in Curtis Park.

CPI sites remain on the list in various categories. The 55 previously named include eight saves, 37 in progress, eight alerts and two lost.

Among those in progress is a 2005 addition, Hangar 61 at Stapleton, which the State Register Review Board will consider Feb. 17 for nomination to the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties.

Many owners and preservation groups see the list as a way to draw attention to a property, secure funds for repairs and just get help.

"We hope to get the (Como) depot restored, so it steps up to the other two buildings," said Linda Balough, Park County historic preservation advisory commission coordinator. "This is a recognition that this poor thing needs some help."

The grant for the Georgetown School is just the beginning, said Cynthia Neely, of Historic Georgetown Inc.

Two of the 2006 endangered places are in communities that will be designated or recognized Friday at the conference as new Preserve America Communities in Colorado - Georgetown and Park County. Others are Cripple Creek, Glenwood Springs and Lake City.

At an opening reception for the conference Wednesday night, the Colorado Historical Society announced 2006 honors. Those included a Stephen H. Hart Award to the late Ronald J. Neely, for his preservation work in Georgetown, and to Colorado Preservation Inc., for its restoration of the Skerritt House in Englewood.

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