Peacock Building site to be museum

RANGELY I A piece of Rangely history came down when the structure popularly known as the “Peacock Building” was demolished last week. Another form of history, a car museum, will take its place.
The building, initially a large shop with a small office on its south side, took on a distinct look over the years as owner Harry Peacock built additions using oil storage tanks cut in half and lifted, with steel sheets welded to the tanks for additional height. The structures were not insulated, but burning used motor oil and natural gas provided ample heat, Peacock said.
The building’s location near Main Street on South Stanolind Avenue made it an ideal place for the businesses that eventually grew from there. A propane company dispatch center before Peacock bought it, the structure later housed Peacock Well Service, Little Rocky Construction Co. and Peacock Oil Co.
From the late 1950s to the mid-‘60s, the construction and oil companies operated alongside the Peacock Family Store, which initially provided clothing and equipment to oilfield workers but later sold everything from motorcycles and shoes to GE appliances and snowmobiles.
“We had everything,” Peacock said. “We had a heck of a business.”
The building was also the site of a tragedy. In 1997, Claude Martinson was working on a gas welder when a droplet of gas connected with a halogen lamp. The resulting fire on March 22, 1997, claimed his life, though Martinson survived for 12 days after the accident and had been improving.
“It was kind of like a security blanket knowing the building was still there,” said Martinson’s widow, Ruth. “I felt a little sad because it’s the end of both eras. The Peacock Building is a landmark, and that’s where Claude’s accident happened.”
Still, Martinson and Peacock understand the pace of progress. The building sat vacant for some time after Peacock Oil went out of business, then housed equipment used to modify municipal water plants. Now the land, if not the building, that has seen so much history will take on new life as current owner Bud Striegel makes plans to bring in a new 80-by-180-foot steel building with a 2,400-square-foot office in front.
The building, a car museum for rare and antique models, will house a different kind of history. Now there’s just one problem.
“I don’t have near enough cars yet,” Striegel said, laughing.
Peacock said that while learning of the old building’s demise was bittersweet, this seasoned businessman knows that’s how things work.
“Yes, there’s a lot of sentimental feelings there, but, what the hell, progress is progress,” he said. “And I’m all for progress.”