History

THE NEW ROCHESTER HOTEL

Historic Establishment Restored to Former Glory

by Frederic B. Wildfang

The newly restored Rochester Hotel at 726 East Second Avenue is one of Durango's oldest hotel establishments, built in 1892 and continuously operated as a hotel for more than 100 years.

The parcel of land upon which the Rochester Hotel now stands was first owned by ex-territorial governor and founder of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, Alexander C. Hunt. Durango was created by the railroad in 1880 when the town was first platted.

The second owner of the property was James Luttrell, Durango's first land agent. Luttrell was known as the head of a committee of Durango citizens that drove the infamous Ike Stockton gang out of town after a midday shoot-out in 1883.

Foundations were laid for the Rochester Hotel in 1890. In 1891, construction of the building was taken over by E.T. Peeples, a local accountant and one-time Durango County Commissioner. In 1892, J.E. Schutt (president of the Schutt Mercantile Company) and W.C. Chapman (director of the Colorado State Bank, vice president of the Durango Iron Works and a dealer in hardware) bought the property and completed construction of the building which became known as the "Peeples Hotel."

The two-story brick building - originally thought to be built with about 30 rooms - was approximately 40 feet by 90 feet, with 8,000 square feet total. Flat-roofed and rectangular in shape, with a balcony in the front, the building featured radiating brick lintels on all windows and doors, rough cut-stone sills on the windows and a classic portico at the main entrance.

"Stop at the Peeples Hotel," read the announcement in The Durango Herald: "Mrs. DeVault has the Peeples Hotel and all who want a nice quiet home to give her a call." The ad continued, "Peeples Hotel offers the best of accommodations to the public." (July 15, 1892). Indeed, local directories at the time listed the Peeples (along with The Strater, The Palace, and others) as one of the best hotels in town.

Shortly thereafter, the Peeples Hotel was sold to Jerry Sullivan for $6,000. In The Durango Herald the hotel was advertised as "under new management, newly furnished, excellent service, largest rooms, lowest rates." (July 27, 1893). Sullivan, who gained local notoriety for catching the largest trout (6.25 lbs.) ever taken out of the Animas River, owned the hotel for some 13 years, selling in 1905.

From 1905 to 1920 Mary Finn owned and operated the hotel, renaming it the "Rochester Hotel." Mrs. Mary Francis Finn (born in 1861 to Patrick Walsh and Maggie Barrett - both from Ireland) made a number of changes to the hotel, extending the front of the building to the sidewalk and adding indoor bathrooms in the back. During these years, the hotel and rooming house continued to do a thriving business.

Among subsequent owners of the hotel were Bertha M. Graden, the daughter of a pioneer farmer in the area, Edward J. Gemmill, who now lives in Denver, and Henry M. Valentine, a major local property owner and former manager of the Durango Chamber of Commerce.

After the 1950s, the condition of the Rochester greatly deteriorated. By the year 1984, the only time doors of the Rochester were thrown open would be to admit another unfortunate to join a whole group of unfortunates already there, perhaps huddling around a fire built upon the floor, passing around a bottle of spirits, or curled up on mattresses in the corners of the room, trying to ward off hunger and the cold.

When current owners of the hotel Diane Wildfang and her son Kirk Komick purchased the Rochester in 1993, the upper story was sagging, the floor joists were dry-rotted and the front balcony and back porch were actually falling off the building. Generally speaking, the building bore an appearance befitting the burnt-out neon sign in front reading, then, with key letters missing, the "Roche" Hotel.

Diane and Kirk completed extensive restoration work on the exterior and interior of the building in June 1994, converting the dilapidated, run-down structure of 33 rooms and three baths into a luxury hotel with 15 large rooms - furnished in a "cowboy Victoriana" style - all with full baths.

According to the owners, every effort was made to retain the original appearance of this classic old building. Interior features include the original trim, hardware, doors and windows, as well as the original skylight in the ceiling upstairs.

The original stairway with banister and balusters was preserved and a matching banister was crafted and attached to the other side of the staircase leading to a mid-stair landing, creating an open stairwell at the side of the new lobby. Many of the original studs were incorporated into the new walls.

Says Diane Wildfang, "Nothing is quite square...it gives the building a genuine, quaint, antique look...consistent with its character. We think of it standing today as a monument to Durango's colorful history."

Diane and Kirk invite the public to stop in at the hotel. The Rochester offers 15 spacious and high-ceilinged rooms that are each decorated in an Old West motif inspired by one of the many movies filmed in and around the Durango area. Movie posters framed in gold and Hollywood lights line the hallways: Support Your Local Gunfighter, City Slickers, Viva Zapata, Around the World in Eighty Days, and Maverick Queen, Butch Cassidy and the Sandance Kid.

Frederic B. Wildfang, husband of Diane Wildfang, is a freelance writer in Durango and a board member of the La Plata County Historical Society.