128 F Street

Description

Real estate appraisal card. 128 F Street, lots A & B, block 21, in Salida, Colorado. This building was erected in 1890 by E.W. Hively. On 30 December 1890 the Salida Mail reported: "E.W. Hively has erected a large two story brick building on F Street, between the post-office and Alger-Disman building. This block is 50 by 75 feet. The front is of pressed brick with red sandstone trimmings. On the first floor the front is plate glass with iron pillars." The building included three spaces for stores on the first story, which were all occupied as soon as the building was completed. The second story featured a large hall and fourteen rooms designed for offices. The cost of the building was approximately $8,000 and it was called "a very handsome and well appointed structure." Edwin W. Hively was an influential businessman and civic leader of Salida. Hively was born in Springfield, Ohio, in 1854. He learned to be a tinner as a young man. In 1879 he moved to Colorado, settling first at Monarch, where he mined and had a grocery business. He worked in a hardware store in Canon City and then moved to Salida in 1882 and was partner in another hardware store, Hively, Young & Co. Hively erected two brick business buildings in Salida, this one and another known as the Hively-Mandeville Block. He operated a limestone business and a real estate and insurance business. Hively was active in promoting the construction of an opera house, was involved in the erection of the St. Clair Hotel, and was a stockholder in the creamery. He also served as town treasurer. He was married to Emma Beeler of San Antonio, Texas, and they had two children. The Hivelys left Salida after the death of their daughter, Camille, and Edwin Hively died in California in 1920. He had sold this building to J.W. DeWeese in 1918. The first businesses in the building were a clothing store (126 F St.) and a dry goods and boot and shoe store (132 F St.). These businesses were also shown on the 1898 Sanborn map. In 1902 D.T. Wycoff operated a drugstore in 126 F Street. D.T. Wycoff had been in the retail drug business in Colorado since 1887, working in Walsenburg before moving to Salida about 1900. His drugstore was described as "carefully fitted up with the best of oak fixtures. He carries at all times a full line of fresh drugs, medicines, perfumes, soaps, toilet articles, cigars, etc., and also a well selected stock of the standard and popular novels, stationery, etc." By 1903, 126 F housed the drugstore of J. Victor Yeoman (drugs, toilet articles, cigars). Samuel W. Sandusky's dry goods operation was in 132 FIn 1903. The firm was the successor to the dry goods store started in 1881 by L.W. and D.H. Craig and the 1885 firm of Craig & Sandusky. S.W. Sandusky became the sole owner of the business in 1891. In 1900 Sandusky's was described as the second oldest mercmtile business in the city. "Here can be found everything the female heart can desire in the way of dry goods, both staple and fancy, and at prices that compare more than favorably with the charges in the big eastern department stores." The upstairs offices in 1903 housed a variety of professionals: Jones and Craig insurance agents; Salida city offices of the attorney, physician, and treasurer; Leroy A. Hollenbeck, lawyer and editor of the "Salida Mail;" Charles S. Kramer, dentist; Finla McClure, mayor and city physician; Albert B. Miller, lawyer and city attorney; Dr. Oliver T. Parker; and Jessie L. Sornburger, stenographer. In 1909 the Howell Drug Co., which featured a soda fountain, was operating in 126 F and the Merchant's National Bank (James J. McKenna, president; J.W. Haight, vice president; D.H. Craig, cashier) was In 132 F. In 1914 a harness company was indicated in 132 F on the Sanborn map. After J.W. DeWeese purchased the Hively Block from Edwin Hively he subsequently sold it to Stancato. The 1922-23 city directory listed the Howell Drug Co. in 126 F and the Salida Harness Co. (Ernest A. Hall and Marcus W. Lazell) in 132 F. The same businesses were listed in 1927-28. The 1930-31 directory listed Shay Drug Co. (James Shay, prop.) in 126 and Lenora's 5 Cents to $1 Store in 132 F (Saul Sharoff, manager). Current owner, P.J. Bergin reports that the upstairs offices were turned into rooms for railroad workers during the 1930s. The 1945 Sanborn map indicated that a drug store still occupied the north corner space, while three other stores comprised the rest of the first floor. History Colorado's Architectural Inventory Forms have more information and are available at the Salida Library.