Colby Store & Post Office

 
First of many old buildings moved to Pioneer Town

Every building in Cedaredge’s Pioneer Town has a long and storied past. The Colby General Store reminds us of the importance these small stores played in offering supplies to rural communities. This was the first building to join the three unique landmark silos at the site.
The building was the first to be moved to Pioneer Town. It was constructed by Frank Fickes in 1906 and 1907, about 3 ½ northwest of Cedaredge to house the Coalby General Mercantile Store and Post Office. It was originally built to serve a vital need in the lives of the early settlers living in Coalby Canyon. Families found the store to be a meeting place when they came to pick up their mail and to purchase needed groceries, hardware, dry goods, notions, school supplies, and numerous other articles. The only platform scale and the only telephone in the area were located here. A hole ( still visible) was cut in the floor to allow Fickes’ cats to come and go at will.
The store closed in 1912. It served as home for some of the family members until 1938. The building was used as a meeting place for the Coalby Club in the late ‘40’s through the ‘60’s and served as a social gathering place for many community events until the later part of the 1960’s. It fell into disrepair, deteriorating, and was about to collapse.
The building was donated by Henry Skutchan of Denver, who had purchased the land from Fickes’ heirs and given to the Surface Creek Valley Historical Society in 1981 thanks to efforts made by Maynard Nelson. Volunteers stabilized, moved, reconstructed, restored, and set up the displays to showcase items that might have been purchased and used by early settlers.
Many of the interesting old items have come from the Girling collection. Others have added local articles to the display, filling the shelves, countertops, and lining the walls. You will see an early National cash register, sausage machine, coffee grinder, canning supplies, flatirons, wash boards, kerosene and gas lamps including an unusual hanging angle lamp, dishes, smoking materials, and numerous other items.
Visitors can leaf through replicas of mail-order catalogs conveniently laid out on one of the display cases. Many items shown are seldom, if at all, found in today’s homes…such as steamer trunks, butter churns, treadle sewing machines, button high top shoes, celluloid combs, hat and hair pins. In one of the catalogs, you will find three pages of pocket knives and thirteen pages of firearms. Low prices are unbelievable. The post office front with 68 oak mail boxes is not original to the Coalby Store. The boxes were from the U.S. Post Office in Lazear, circa 1890; acquired in 1982, part of the Girling collection of buildings and artifacts.

 

PIONEER TOWN HISTORY

Peterson Cabin

An attic area served as a sleeping area for the couple's nine children, though some of the older boys may have slept in a shed out-back or outdoors when weather permitted. A lean-to made of sawed lumber provided a kitchen and dining area for the growing family