National Register Historic District Nominations
Historic districts are cohesive collections of buildings associated by geography, historical development, and/or architecture.

Tarryall Rural Historic District, Park County, Colorado (2017). In November 2017 the National Park Service announced the listing in the National Register of the nearly 28,000-acre Tarryall Rural Historic District in Park County in central Colorado. The recognition culminated work that started with a 1996 survey of the road. The high altitude scenic rural district embraces land along Tarryall Creek and Tarryall Road (County Road 77) bounded by the Tarryall Mountains to the north and the Puma Hills to the south. The district extends from south of Jefferson approximately 39 miles to U.S. Highway 24 northwest of Lake George. The nominated area is part of the drainage of meandering Tarryall, Michigan, and Jefferson creeks and a stretch of the South Platte River. In 1862 wagon road was constructed through the area extending from Colorado City on Fountain Creek in the Pikes Peak region to the 1859 mining camps of Tarryall and Hamilton. Pioneer settlers established homesteads along the original road, which became County Road 77. The area’s outstanding landscape qualities make the lands along the road in fact, if not by formal designation, a scenic byway.
Views within the district provide vistas of distant mountain peaks and ranges; forested hillsides of pine, spruce, and aspen; prominent rock outcroppings; the lively waters of Michigan, Jefferson, and Tarryall creeks and the South Platte River; widely separated clusters of ranch headquarters buildings; bottomlands with lush, level hay meadows; herds of grazing beef cattle and bison; and occasional sightings of a resident band of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep and other wildlife. The valley alternately narrows and opens within the district. A trip through the valley offers a constantly changing juxtaposition of the natural setting and the legacy of historic human activities as the road descends from 9,350’ elevation on the north to 7,940’ at the south end.
The district contains still-active historic ranches with more than a dozen buildings and hundreds of acres of land, as well as vacant and weathered buildings reflecting historic habitation of long ago. The district embraces the full range of historic activities along the Tarryall, including twenty-five historic livestock ranch headquarters and several individual buildings associated with the area’s ranching history. Other resources representing the area’s historic development and community life include two one-room schools, three old road segments, three cemeteries, two timber bridges, and buildings associated with the community of Tarryall/Puma City. Marilyn Martorano of Martorano Consultants LLC contributed to the nomination.
Views within the district provide vistas of distant mountain peaks and ranges; forested hillsides of pine, spruce, and aspen; prominent rock outcroppings; the lively waters of Michigan, Jefferson, and Tarryall creeks and the South Platte River; widely separated clusters of ranch headquarters buildings; bottomlands with lush, level hay meadows; herds of grazing beef cattle and bison; and occasional sightings of a resident band of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep and other wildlife. The valley alternately narrows and opens within the district. A trip through the valley offers a constantly changing juxtaposition of the natural setting and the legacy of historic human activities as the road descends from 9,350’ elevation on the north to 7,940’ at the south end.
The district contains still-active historic ranches with more than a dozen buildings and hundreds of acres of land, as well as vacant and weathered buildings reflecting historic habitation of long ago. The district embraces the full range of historic activities along the Tarryall, including twenty-five historic livestock ranch headquarters and several individual buildings associated with the area’s ranching history. Other resources representing the area’s historic development and community life include two one-room schools, three old road segments, three cemeteries, two timber bridges, and buildings associated with the community of Tarryall/Puma City. Marilyn Martorano of Martorano Consultants LLC contributed to the nomination.

Head Lettuce Day/Collegiate Peaks Stampede Rodeo Grounds, Buena Vista, Colorado (2016)
The 1940 Head Lettuce Day/Collegiate Peaks Stampede Rodeo Grounds are locally significant in the area of Entertainment/Recreation for its association with the annual rodeo, an important Buena Vista and regional sporting and entertainment event and celebration recognizing the area’s ranching roots. The rodeo was and is a major community event that has included a parade and barbeque as well as the rodeo competition. Known as “the biggest weekend of the year in Buena Vista,” the rodeo boasts a western theme attracting people from throughout Chaffee County and surrounding areas. The grounds are also significant in the area of Social History as a project undertaken by the Work Projects Administration to provide work for the unemployed during the Great Depression. The construction engaged about two-dozen workers and injected money into the town economy. The resource is also architecturally significant as an example of an early twentieth-century small town rodeo grounds planned and constructed by the WPA and featuring a WPA Rustic grandstand, a half-mile racetrack, and corrals. WPA workers planned and laid out the grounds to replace an earlier venue and provide the community with a more substantial and well-planned rodeo facility. The project was sponsored by the Greater Arkansas River Nature Association with funding from the State Historical Fund..
The 1940 Head Lettuce Day/Collegiate Peaks Stampede Rodeo Grounds are locally significant in the area of Entertainment/Recreation for its association with the annual rodeo, an important Buena Vista and regional sporting and entertainment event and celebration recognizing the area’s ranching roots. The rodeo was and is a major community event that has included a parade and barbeque as well as the rodeo competition. Known as “the biggest weekend of the year in Buena Vista,” the rodeo boasts a western theme attracting people from throughout Chaffee County and surrounding areas. The grounds are also significant in the area of Social History as a project undertaken by the Work Projects Administration to provide work for the unemployed during the Great Depression. The construction engaged about two-dozen workers and injected money into the town economy. The resource is also architecturally significant as an example of an early twentieth-century small town rodeo grounds planned and constructed by the WPA and featuring a WPA Rustic grandstand, a half-mile racetrack, and corrals. WPA workers planned and laid out the grounds to replace an earlier venue and provide the community with a more substantial and well-planned rodeo facility. The project was sponsored by the Greater Arkansas River Nature Association with funding from the State Historical Fund..

Comanche Drive-In, Buena Vista, Colorado (2014-15)
In 2015, the Comanche Drive-In Theater west of Buena Vista became the fifth drive-in to be listed in the National Register in the entire country. Experienced indoor movie theater operators John L. and Pearl Groy brought drive-in entertainment to the Buena Vista area in 1967, opening the facility after the peak in drive-in construction. It is Chaffee County’s only extant drive-in and the highest drive-in in elevation in the nation at 8,040’. The Comanche Drive-In represents the layout and components of a mid-twentieth century small-town drive-in theater, as reflected in the massive screen tower, rows of parking with speaker poles, attractions board/sign marquee, multipurpose projection building, ticket booth, and circulation system for entering and exiting. Drive-in theaters are a rapidly disappearing resource type: once numbering more than 4,000 venues throughout the country, there are now only 338 still open. Colorado once had more than sixty drive-ins; today, the Comanche Drive-In is one of just seven still operating. The Comanche is also notable for its continuing use of a reel-to-reel carbon arc lamp projection system—one of the few drive-ins in the nation still employing that technology that produces a brilliant white light. Buoyed by a strong local economy, the drive-in enjoyed its peak years in the early 1980s but continues to serve residents and visitors to the Buena Vista area. Prepared for the Greater Arkansas Nature Association with funding from the Colorado State Historical Fund.
In 2015, the Comanche Drive-In Theater west of Buena Vista became the fifth drive-in to be listed in the National Register in the entire country. Experienced indoor movie theater operators John L. and Pearl Groy brought drive-in entertainment to the Buena Vista area in 1967, opening the facility after the peak in drive-in construction. It is Chaffee County’s only extant drive-in and the highest drive-in in elevation in the nation at 8,040’. The Comanche Drive-In represents the layout and components of a mid-twentieth century small-town drive-in theater, as reflected in the massive screen tower, rows of parking with speaker poles, attractions board/sign marquee, multipurpose projection building, ticket booth, and circulation system for entering and exiting. Drive-in theaters are a rapidly disappearing resource type: once numbering more than 4,000 venues throughout the country, there are now only 338 still open. Colorado once had more than sixty drive-ins; today, the Comanche Drive-In is one of just seven still operating. The Comanche is also notable for its continuing use of a reel-to-reel carbon arc lamp projection system—one of the few drive-ins in the nation still employing that technology that produces a brilliant white light. Buoyed by a strong local economy, the drive-in enjoyed its peak years in the early 1980s but continues to serve residents and visitors to the Buena Vista area. Prepared for the Greater Arkansas Nature Association with funding from the Colorado State Historical Fund.

Commercial Hotel, Granite, Chaffee County, Colorado (2014-15)
The Commercial Hotel is believed first to have operated as a stage stop during the 1860s and 1870s on a stage road between Cañon City and Leadville traveled by the noted Barlow & Sanderson line. The oldest part of the building dates to ca. 1867-76. By about 1880-81 it evolved into the Commercial Hotel and played a vital role in the town’s commerce by providing lodging and meals for commercial travelers and tourists, a function essential for a thriving community. By offering overnight accommodations and hot food, the early hotels made trips to such isolated areas less difficult, allowing them to attract more potential residents as well as important business visitors. The building continued to function as a hotel through at least 1911. The hotel and the pre-1880 livery stable/blacksmith shop to the north are further significant as intact examples of Pioneer Log construction. Although Granite boomed in the early 1860s and for several years was the county seat of Lake County, there are only a small number of early log buildings remaining in the community. The hotel building is notable for displaying walls facing Main Street clad with board-and-batten siding, reflecting an attempt to transcend the rugged frontier environment, while less visible walls are mostly log construction with V and square notching. The Commercial Hotel and its companion livery stable are further significant as rare surviving examples of the town’s early commercial buildings. Fires in 1893, 1897, and 1939 destroyed most of Granite’s commercial district. Prepared for the Greater Arkansas Nature Association with funding from the Colorado State Historical Fund.
The Commercial Hotel is believed first to have operated as a stage stop during the 1860s and 1870s on a stage road between Cañon City and Leadville traveled by the noted Barlow & Sanderson line. The oldest part of the building dates to ca. 1867-76. By about 1880-81 it evolved into the Commercial Hotel and played a vital role in the town’s commerce by providing lodging and meals for commercial travelers and tourists, a function essential for a thriving community. By offering overnight accommodations and hot food, the early hotels made trips to such isolated areas less difficult, allowing them to attract more potential residents as well as important business visitors. The building continued to function as a hotel through at least 1911. The hotel and the pre-1880 livery stable/blacksmith shop to the north are further significant as intact examples of Pioneer Log construction. Although Granite boomed in the early 1860s and for several years was the county seat of Lake County, there are only a small number of early log buildings remaining in the community. The hotel building is notable for displaying walls facing Main Street clad with board-and-batten siding, reflecting an attempt to transcend the rugged frontier environment, while less visible walls are mostly log construction with V and square notching. The Commercial Hotel and its companion livery stable are further significant as rare surviving examples of the town’s early commercial buildings. Fires in 1893, 1897, and 1939 destroyed most of Granite’s commercial district. Prepared for the Greater Arkansas Nature Association with funding from the Colorado State Historical Fund.

Salida Livestock Commission Company, Salida vicinity (2014-15)
The 1958 Salida Livestock Commission Company sale barn facility is significant for the role it played (and continues to play) in ranching and the marketing of livestock in central and southern Colorado. This facility served as one of the largest livestock sale barns in Colorado during the 1960s, with as many as 3,000 to 4,000 animals sold during a single sale. Today, the sale barn attracts buyers and sellers from Chaffee County, South Park, the San Luis Valley, and the Cañon City area, hosting weekly auctions in the fall and winter that drew large numbers of buyers and sellers to Salida and boosted the local economy. The sale barn complex is further significant as an intact example of a late 1950s livestock auction complex. The facility is organized to efficiently receive, care for, auction, and ship livestock, featuring loading and unloading docks; a large corral with alleys, loafing sheds, squeeze chutes, and pens of varying sizes to hold and move livestock; sales barn with scales, sales arena, office, and café; hay barn; and parking area. Especially important is the sales barn, which includes important original interior features such as the sales area with wood-paneled walls, a semi-circular show ring, steeply raked seating, and an auctioneer’s booth, and the original restaurant with knotty pine paneling on the walls and a 1950s semi-circular lunch counter with metal stools. Prepared for the Greater Arkansas Nature Association with funding from the Colorado State Historical Fund.
The 1958 Salida Livestock Commission Company sale barn facility is significant for the role it played (and continues to play) in ranching and the marketing of livestock in central and southern Colorado. This facility served as one of the largest livestock sale barns in Colorado during the 1960s, with as many as 3,000 to 4,000 animals sold during a single sale. Today, the sale barn attracts buyers and sellers from Chaffee County, South Park, the San Luis Valley, and the Cañon City area, hosting weekly auctions in the fall and winter that drew large numbers of buyers and sellers to Salida and boosted the local economy. The sale barn complex is further significant as an intact example of a late 1950s livestock auction complex. The facility is organized to efficiently receive, care for, auction, and ship livestock, featuring loading and unloading docks; a large corral with alleys, loafing sheds, squeeze chutes, and pens of varying sizes to hold and move livestock; sales barn with scales, sales arena, office, and café; hay barn; and parking area. Especially important is the sales barn, which includes important original interior features such as the sales area with wood-paneled walls, a semi-circular show ring, steeply raked seating, and an auctioneer’s booth, and the original restaurant with knotty pine paneling on the walls and a 1950s semi-circular lunch counter with metal stools. Prepared for the Greater Arkansas Nature Association with funding from the Colorado State Historical Fund.

Rock Ledge/Franzel Ranch, Buena Vista vicinity, Chaffee County, Colorado (2014-15)
The 120-acre Rock Ledge Ranch/Franzel Ranch west of Buena Vista possesses an important association with the history of agriculture in Chaffee County. Ernest and Belle Wilber homesteaded the property beginning in the late 1880s, constructing the first buildings and other improvements, raising field crops, vegetables, cattle, and eventually establishing a flourishing dairy. German immigrants Gustav and Marie Franzel acquired the ranch in 1908, completing other buildings, raising a family, and growing grains, vegetables, hay, and cattle on the land. The Franzels raised hogs and continued a sausage making tradition, producing such German favorites as liverwurst, blood sausage, and summer sausage. Descendants of the Franzels continue to own and operate the ranch. The ranch contains a variety of buildings representing late nineteenth and twentieth century ranch architecture, including a large log barn, machine shed, chicken house, brooder house, bunkhouse, blacksmith shop, ice house, and wood shed, as well as a historic cistern and a ditch. All designed in an unadorned, traditional, and functional vernacular manner, the buildings exhibit a variety of historic ranch construction materials, including logs, milled boards, wood shingles, corrugated metal, concrete, stone, and cinderblocks. Prepared for the Greater Arkansas Nature Association with funding from the Colorado State Historical Fund.
The 120-acre Rock Ledge Ranch/Franzel Ranch west of Buena Vista possesses an important association with the history of agriculture in Chaffee County. Ernest and Belle Wilber homesteaded the property beginning in the late 1880s, constructing the first buildings and other improvements, raising field crops, vegetables, cattle, and eventually establishing a flourishing dairy. German immigrants Gustav and Marie Franzel acquired the ranch in 1908, completing other buildings, raising a family, and growing grains, vegetables, hay, and cattle on the land. The Franzels raised hogs and continued a sausage making tradition, producing such German favorites as liverwurst, blood sausage, and summer sausage. Descendants of the Franzels continue to own and operate the ranch. The ranch contains a variety of buildings representing late nineteenth and twentieth century ranch architecture, including a large log barn, machine shed, chicken house, brooder house, bunkhouse, blacksmith shop, ice house, and wood shed, as well as a historic cistern and a ditch. All designed in an unadorned, traditional, and functional vernacular manner, the buildings exhibit a variety of historic ranch construction materials, including logs, milled boards, wood shingles, corrugated metal, concrete, stone, and cinderblocks. Prepared for the Greater Arkansas Nature Association with funding from the Colorado State Historical Fund.

Downtown Saguache Historic District, Saguache County, Colorado (2013-14). The 7.7-acre, 49-resource Saguache Downtown Historic District is locally significant under National Register Criterion A in the area of Commerce for its historic role as the commercial center of the Town of Saguache and the upper San Luis Valley since its founding in 1874. The district is further locally significant under National Register Criterion C in the area of Architecture, representing an intact collection of one- and two-story late nineteenth- and early twentieth century commercial buildings, including an impressive number of buildings featuring false front and adobe construction. The period of significance extends from 1874 through 1964, in keeping with National Register guidelines. A Certified Local Government grant to the Town of Saguache funded the project.

Hotel Holly/Haswell Hotel, Haswell, Colorado (2013)
The 1907 Hotel Holly/Haswell Hotel was the earliest public accommodation in Haswell, serving the area’s residents, including teachers and work crews, as well as members of the traveling public. As one of the largest buildings in the community and with a popular dining room, the hotel became a gathering place for local social gatherings and other events. In addition to the hotel, the 0.4-acre complex includes an office/filling station, bunkhouse, chicken coop, and garage. Front Range undertook the project for the Kiowa County Historic Preservation Commission under funding from a Certified Local Government grant.
The 1907 Hotel Holly/Haswell Hotel was the earliest public accommodation in Haswell, serving the area’s residents, including teachers and work crews, as well as members of the traveling public. As one of the largest buildings in the community and with a popular dining room, the hotel became a gathering place for local social gatherings and other events. In addition to the hotel, the 0.4-acre complex includes an office/filling station, bunkhouse, chicken coop, and garage. Front Range undertook the project for the Kiowa County Historic Preservation Commission under funding from a Certified Local Government grant.

Snow Train Rolling Stock, Laramie, Wyoming, National Register District Nomination (2012-13). Front Range prepared a National Register district nomination for the Snow Train, Rolling Stock located in Railroad Heritage Park, Laramie, Wyoming. The resources comprised the first railroad rolling stock to be listed within Wyoming. The train consists of a wedge snow plow, steam locomotive, tender, bunk car, and caboose. The project was conducted for the Albany County Historic Preservation Board and the Laramie Railroad Depot Association and funded by a Certified Local Government grant.
Horseshoe Canyon National Register of Historic Places Nomination, Canyonlands National Park, Utah (2011)
Front Range worked with RMC Consultants to produce an expanded and updated National Register district nomination for an area of Canyonlands National Park containing some of the most significant rock art in North America, including the Great Gallery. |
Cabin Springs and Neck Springs Grazing District, National Register Historic District Nomination, Canyonlands National Park, Moab, Utah vicinity (2009-10)
Front Range prepared a National Register historic district nomination for an area in the northern area of the park that contains resources related to grazing and water development in the 1930s, including two livestock troughs erected by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Front Range performed the work for the National Park Service as a subconsultant to RMC Consultants. |
Trout Creek/Annex/Settele Ranch, Fairplay vicinity, Colorado (2007)
The district nomination included more than two dozen buildings and 2,100 acres in the Trout Creek valley southeast of Fairplay. The ranch, which produced large amounts of hay, was associated with several prominent cattle and sheep ranchers, including Edward P. Arthur, Charles H. Wadley, and James L. Settele. |
Colorado Salt Works, Hartsel vicinity, Park County, Colorado (2000-2001)
One of the state's earliest industries and the only salt production facility of its kind built in Colorado. This rare resource type is an 1860s plant that used kettle and pan technology to produce salt for the fledging mining frontier. |
Putnam/Buckley Ranch, Park County, Colorado (1999)
An early cattle and sheep ranch located east of Hartsel, Colorado. |
Reno Park Historic District, Arvada, Colorado (1999)
A historic residential neighborhood lying west of Arvada’s historic commercial area. |
West Side Neighborhood Residential District Expansion. Denver, Colorado(1999)
A National Register nomination substantially expanding the existing West Side NRHP Historic District in the La Alma-Lincoln Park neighborhood was produced for NEWSED, a nonprofit community development organization. Due to neighborhood opposition, this nomination was not submitted to the State Review Board. |
Granada Relocation Center (Camp Amache), Prowers County, Colorado(1993-94)
The site of a World War II era Japanese American relocation center in Prowers County of southeastern Colorado. The project also included videotaping interviews with former residents of the camp and producing cost estimates for improving access and interpretation of the site. The project was sponsored by the Denver Central Optimist Club and the Town of Granada. The nomination was later used to prepare a National Historic Landmark nomination for the site. |
Camp George West, Golden, Colorado (1992) A Colorado National Guard headquarters facility that features a variety of stone buildings.
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Milne Farm, Weld County, Colorado (1992) A Centennial Farm just west of Lucerne, Colorado, including the main farmhouse, barn, and associated agricultural buildings.
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Rim Rock Drive, Mesa County, Colorado (1990-92)
A 22.4 mile roadway constructed within Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction, Colorado. The road was a Great Depression-era public works project completed with CCC and WPA labor. The National Park Service engaged Front Range to develop a historic context, perform a field survey with photographic documentation, develop registration requirements, and prepare the nomination. |
Black Hawk and Central City, Gilpin County, Colorado (1989)
Front Range assisted the National Park Service in correcting and revising maps prepared for a National Register nomination of the Central City/Black Hawk historic district. |
Swallow Hill National Register Nomination, Denver, Colorado (1987)
One of Denver’s most significant collections of late nineteenth and early twentieth century residential buildings. Located in northeast Denver. |