Real estate appraisal card. 136 E. 2nd Street, lot 23, block 22, in Salida, Colorado.
This building was erected between 1888 and 1890, according to Sanborn fire insurance maps for those years. Sanborn maps for 1890 through 1909 show a furniture store on the first floor of the building and furnished rooms on the second floor. Louis Wenz and Son, undertakers and embalmers, was listed here in 1911-12. Mr. Wenz operated a furniture store for many years in Salida on F Street and also served as mayor. A small L-shaped building to the rear housed a blacksmith shop on 1890 through 1909 maps. The 1903-04 city directory indicates that Mrs. Annie M. Slater provided furnished rooms upstairs for lodgers at this address. Amos P. Slater operated his blacksmith shop in the rear building here in the 1905-06 to 1911-12 period.
The rear building was labeled vacant on the 1914 Sanborn map; it was removed between 1914 and 1929. The main building housed an undertaking business on 1914 through 1945 Sanborn maps. Stewart Mortuary was listed at this address in city directories from 1922-23 through 1961. The 1922-23 directory listed L.B. Stewart as the proprietor.
A display advertisement that year noted that the firm had a "lady assistant licensed embalmer" and featured "no extra charge for use of chapel." The 1951 directory showed Joseph E. Stewart as president and manager. Stewart Mortuary was still in the building at the time of the 1981 historic buildings survey.
On July 4, 1994, following extensive interior remodeling, the Salida branch of the II Vicino restaurant chain opened for business. The business featured wood oven pizza and a medal-winning microbrewery. II Vicino closed in 2002.
History Colorado's Architectural Inventory Forms have more information and are available at the Salida Library.
