General Palmer Hotel—567 Main Ave.

By Eilene Lyon

During the days when dirt and manure still muddied Durango streets, commercial construction boomed. In the early twentieth century, Durango had admirable aspirations. Though she would never achieve her dream of becoming “the flourishing metropolis of the southwest” or “a second Denver,” her prospects in 1902 looked promising.

A trio of men—Michael Alexius “Alex” Wahler, William A. Perry, and Robert “Bob” Roberts—sensing a good investment, designed and constructed adjoining brick buildings, two-stories high, on the southwest corner of Main Avenue and Sixth Street (now Main and College Drive).

Today the combined and modified buildings are known as the General Palmer Hotel. The hotel is named for William Jackson Palmer, a Civil War veteran who founded Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs and several institutions, including Colorado College and the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad.

What was first called the Perry-Roberts block covered three city lots (563, 569, and 577 Main). The southernmost belonged to German immigrant Alex Wahler. Wahler ran the Inter-Ocean Hotel beginning in 1892, across the street from the train station, and sold meat on the side.

Partners William A. Perry and Bob Roberts, two southwest Colorado pioneers, made their fortune in the cattle industry which funded their extensive Durango real estate purchases. Perry and Roberts acquired the north two lots on July 21, 1902 for $2,500. The Durango Semi-Weekly Herald announced their building plans on August 7.

The Perry-Roberts partnership and Wahler hired 45-year-old contractor Daniel McGillis to erect the buildings. They ordered brick from the Boston Coal & Fuel Co. Together, the buildings—Wahler’s at 25 ft. x 75 ft. and Perry-Roberts’s at 50 ft. x 75 ft.—shared the joint wall between and appeared to be one large edifice. McGillis broke ground on September 12, and the tenants had all moved in by Christmas 1902, a mere three-and-a-half months later. (Try that today!)

Wahler, the meat man, occupied his own building and expanded his offerings to include other groceries. The middle unit on the first floor housed Thompsen’s second-hand furnishings store. Perry and Roberts leased the corner space, at Main & Sixth, and their second story to partners Hugh Allen and George C. Draper.

Allen and Draper opened the Capitol saloon on the ground floor and furnished fifteen “large and airy rooms” upstairs for residents and transient guests. The pair had previously run an establishment in Hesperus, west of Durango, and briefly ran the bar at the Palace Hotel, closer to the railroad depot. Their Christmas Day opening featured a feast of “o’possum and sweet potatoes.”

Perry sold his share of the building to Roberts in 1904. Two years later, Roberts’s building underwent big changes. Thompsen relocated his furniture business across the street and the Durango Drug Co., run by “Doc” Willard Libby, later moved into the middle ground-floor retail space. Charles Fleck leased the corner section and upper floor.

Fleck had succeeded Wahler as the Inter-Ocean Hotel manager. He decided to open his own establishment in the Perry-Roberts block, giving it the high-flying name of “Hotel Savoy,” presumably to suggest a connection to the posh Savoys in Denver and London.

According to the Herald: “Mr. Fleck has given care to every detail with the purpose of making the Savoy first class. In the kitchen he has placed one of the largest and latest approved ranges in the West. The dining room, with its morning light and afternoon shadows will be ideal.”

He had plenty of competition in the lodging business. The Palace, the Inter-Ocean, and several boarding establishments all occupied the 400 and 500 blocks of Main. Being near the train depot conferred an advantage, as most visitors arrived by rail. The Strater Hotel operated a block north, and the Rochester Hotel on Second Ave.

Fleck soon needed additional rooms and convinced Roberts to add a third story to the building in June 1906. (Wahler’s building remained just two stories at least into the 1960s.) The frame-built addition went up quickly. Hotel Savoy thrived. Fleck had George Goodman redecorate his offices in 1910 with the “most expensive linoleum floors” covered with Navajo rugs.

A large electric sign built by Western Colorado Power Co. graced the corner of the building in 1925. The Savoy operated at least until the 1940s.

The biggest threat to the Perry-Roberts-Wahler buildings came via two Phoenix businessmen, Tom Toberman and Dan Romanoff. They purchased the entire Rio Grandeland area (i.e. the 400 and 500 blocks of Main) in 1973 with the intention of demolishing all the old buildings. They planned a multi-million-dollar mall-like commercial district. The fate of the railroad was still up in the air at the time.

Fortunately, a stay of execution for some historic structures came about in 1975 when Jim Jackson purchased Rio Grandeland. His was a gentler vision for restorations and improvements, which endure to this day.

Feature image: Street view of the General Palmer Hotel today (Perry-Roberts block) at Main and College Dr. The two-story brick portion is the original structure. 

Sources:

La Plata County Clerk and Recorder

Colorado Historic Newspaper Collection (www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org)

Newspapers.com

Durango Herald digital archive, Durango Public Library.

Ancestry.com