Durango in La Plata County, Colorado — The American Mountains (Southwest)
Main Avenue/Strater Hotel circa 1891
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 24, 2024
1. Main Avenue/Strater Hotel circa 1891 Marker
Every community wished to have an outstanding hotel. The Strater, opening in 1888, provided that facility. The horse drawn trolley, coming up Main Avenue, operated from 1891 to 1893. It ran from the depot, north to the Main Avenue Bridge.
The background smoke comes from Durangos smelter. Over three hundred men worked there in the 1890s. Ore came from the mines in the San Juan Mountains to be crushed, heated and mixed with chemicals to produce gold and silver bullion. Despite smelling like rotten eggs, and often dirtying the wash lines clean clothes, Durangoans put up with the inconvenience.
The Moments Project is a conceptual public sculpture by Shan Wells, designed to preserve the cultural heritage of Durango, and to make visible the movement of time. A free map of 19 other stanchions constituting a driving/walking tour of Durango may be obtained at the following locations: Durango Community Recreation Center, Center for Southwest Studies, Durango Arts Center, Durango Chamber of Commerce, Durango City Hall, Durango Public Library, Animas Museum. To learn more about the history of Old Durango, visit the Animas Museum.
Erected 2005 by Shan Wells' Moments Project. (Marker Number 1.)
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists:
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Location. 37° 16.294′ N, 107° 52.873′ W. Marker is in Durango, Colorado, in La Plata County. It is on Main Avenue just north of East 7th Street, on the right when traveling north. The marker is located on the sidewalk. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 708 Main Avenue, Durango CO 81301, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the American Mountain West and at the Four Corners. Globally, it is in North America, the Rocky Mountains, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Main Avenue parade, circa 1932 (within shouting distance of this marker); The Newman Block (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); The Rochester Hotel (about 400 feet away); Durango skyscraper, circa 1896 (about 500 feet away); Main St., Durango circa 1890 (about 500 feet away); Central Durango, circa 1900 (about 600 feet away); Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (about 600 feet away); The Gardenswartz Building (about 700 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Durango.
Regarding Main Avenue/Strater Hotel circa 1891. The Strater Hotel
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 24, 2024
2. Main Avenue/Strater Hotel circa 1891 Marker
Looking southwest along Main Avenue. The Strater Hotel is in the background.
From the National Register Nomination prepared by Marjorie J. Wells, 2/28/1980:
Strater Hotel (1887): The original four-story brick structure occupies the southwest corner bounded by 7th Avenue and Main Street with a slightly later three-story annex immediately to the south. Even without the original corner tower (a curious combination of Palladian and Gothic forms) the Italianate Romanesque and Renaissance details elsewhere on the building make its style eclectic Victorian at its best.
The building interior features a four-story atrium topped by a skylight. The lobby and several of the rooms have been restored or retained in near original condition. The flamboyant style of the Strater Hotel suggests the boom-town atmosphere and big-city aspirations that prevailed at the time.
Also see . . .
1. Strater Hotel (Wikipedia).
Excerpt: The Strater Hotel, in Durango, Colorado, is a historical hotel that opened in 1887 at the height of the American Gilded Age. Among its notable guests throughout its history are President Gerald Ford, Will Rogers, writer Louis LAmour, the Grateful Dead, and astronauts from the Apollo missions.(Submitted on March 15, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)It has been a charter member of the National Registry of the Historic Hotels of America since 1989. It was named a national literary historical landmark in 2012 by the Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations. The hotel's Diamond Belle bar saloon features bartenders and waitresses who are dressed in historic costume.Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 24, 20243. Strater Hotel (east elevation)From the National Register Nomination: The main structure has a big scale on the Main Street elevation which is achieved by grouping windows to create three large bays. A wooden bay window extends from the second through the third floors above the main lobby entrance. This is flanked by shallow round topped recesses with wood frame infill also two stories in height. Above a grouping of three windows on the fourth floor is a large semi-circular recess which contains the building's name. This, in turn, is topped with a heavily bracketed gable which once supported a slender finial or flagpole creating the focus for the East facade.The annex to the south has a more sedate facade that has two major divisions. Each part has three bays. The central bay of each half projects slightly. Round topped windows at the third floor have brick labels similar to those on the large recesses of the original building. Shallow hipped roofs topped by flagpoles can just be seen beyond the balustrade that caps the corbelled brick parapet.
The hotel was originally built by the Strater family, who moved to Durango from Cleveland between 1880 and 1881. Specifically, the hotel was the brainchild of Henry Strater, a pharmacist who rallied his brothers and father to help construct the hotel at the cost of $70,000. Strater kept his pharmacy in the corner of the hotel, while delegating the management to H. L. Rice, who elevated the social scene at the hotel.
2. Moments in Durangos history (The Durango Telegraph, 2005). (Submitted on March 16, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 24, 2024
4. Strater Hotel (northeast elevation)
From the National Register Nomination: The building has a chamfered northeast corner that marks the entrance to the Diamond Belle Saloon while another two-story bay window occurs on the first bay of the north elevation.
Credits. This page was last revised on March 16, 2025. It was originally submitted on March 11, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 347 times since then and 204 times this year. Photos: 1. submitted on March 14, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. 2, 3, 4. submitted on March 15, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
