Description
Real estate appraisal card. 127 F Street, part of lots 14-17, block 22, in Salida, Colorado.
In 1888, this site was vacant. This building appears on the 1890 Sanborn map, divided into two businesses: a grocery (127) and a clothing and notions store (131). A cobbler shared part of the grocery store space. The same businesses, minus the cobbler, were shown on the Sanborn maps of 1893 and 1898. The 1903 city directory indicates that the grocery store was known as the E.R. Alexander Mercantile Company. Edwin R. Alexander was president and Mrs. Mary E. Alexander was secretary of the firm, which sold groceries, crockery, queensware, and kitchen furnishings. In 1899, the company had improved its storeroom and erected an iron warehouse.
The other business in the building back then was the Golden Rule store, which Burr Fisher had opened in Salida about 1891. In 1899, C.H. Ramsey, (Fisher's brother-in-law) acquired control of the business. 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 the first modern dry goods chain stores in the country. The first store was opened in 1889 in Longmont, Colorado, and it became a model for more than 100 other stores. James Cash Penney was one of the first operators of a Golden Rule store and later founded his own department store chain, J.C. Penney's. The Golden Rule store moved to the Adilas Building (219 F) by 1905.
The Golden Rule store was replaced in this building by Dayton J. Kramer's jewelry store. Kramer, jeweler, optician, and Denver & Rio Grande watch inspector, had been called 'the leading jeweler' in Salida in 1900. The jewelry firm had been founded in 1882 by William Carpenter and expanded rapidly. In 1894, D. J. Kramer assumed the management of the business and purchased it about 1900. Fine loose and mounted diamonds, gold and silver jewelry, cut glass, musical instruments, optical goods, and Mexican art leather goods were among the specialties of the store.
The grocery store and jewelry store were shown on the Sanborn map of 1914. Alexander Mercantile and Kramer Jewelry were listed here in the 1922 and 1930 city directory. By 1943, Stanford and Raimon Cook were operating the Gambles store here, offering appliances, paint, hardware, furniture, bicycles, kitchenware, and other items. Gambles closed in 2009.
History Colorado's Architectural Inventory Forms have more information and are available at the Salida Library.
