The building at 11th and Washington served as the town mortuary for more than 100 years. The present owners did a wonderful job of restoring the building to its original Victorian glory.
One of their many major tasks was removing the decades' worth of paint on the exterior walls. Once they had removed the paint, the ghost of an old staircase appeared.
The corner building was constructed in 1872 by grocer C. A. Clark.
Mr. C. A. Clark is moving his stock of groceries into his new and elegant store on the corner of Washington Avenue and First Street, which has just been completed, and will hereafter be found there, ready, as heretofore, to serve his customers….He has now erected one of the handsomest buildings in town, the store being 25 by 80 feet, with a splendid iron front, and the second story finished off for offices.
Colorado Transcript – November 27, 1872
The following year, Clark sold his business and the building to Elmus Smith.
