Description
Real estate appraisal card. 427 E. 1st Street, lots 5-7, block 25, in Salida, Colorado.
This house was built between 1888 and 1895. The 1903-04 city directory indicated that Harry James Williams, owner of H.J. Williams & Co., lived here with his wife, Bertha M., whom he married in 1901. The couple had two daughters and three sons. Harry Williams was born in Carrolton, Illinois, on June 19, 1866. He came to Salida in 1890. In 1900, he was a grocery salesman. In 1911-12, he worked as a clerk at the McKenna Grocery Co. Beginning in 1914, he worked for the King Food Company of Pueblo for twelve years. He was also a member of the Salida band. In 1906, George L. Williams, a miner, lived here with Mr. and Mrs. Williams. Also living here was Kate Schorr, a clerk for Crews-Beggs Mercantile Company.
By 1920, the Williams's daughter Emily and her husband, Daniel V. Matthews, lived here with them and Mr. Matthews was listed as the head of the household. Emily Williams and Daniel Matthews were married June 20, 1912, at the First Methodist Church. During 1922, Mr. Matthews worked as a meat cutter at O.J. Welch. Harry Williams died in July 1926. Daniel and Emily Matthews continued living here after the death of Mr. Williams, as did his wife. In 1931, Daniel Matthews was working as a meat cutter for J.W. Callaway. The same family lived here in 1951, at which time Mr. Matthews was out of the meat cutting business, working instead as a conductor and brakeman for Denver & Rio Grande Western. The couple had two sons, Jack R. and Gene, and one daughter, Louise. Mr. Matthews died in June 1966, at the age of 75, following a long illness. He had been born in Kane, Pennsylvania, in 1891, and had been a Salida resident since the early 1900s and was a member of the Methodist Church, as well as a member of several fraternal organizations. Mr. and Mrs. Matthews still owned this house at the time of his death. Mrs. Matthews died October 29, 1969, in Yakima, Washington at the age of 75. She was buried in Fairview Cemetery.
History Colorado's Architectural Inventory Forms have more information and are available at the Salida Library.
