Back in the family

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“This location was a saloon in the early days. When I was 10-years-old, I was driving my pet goat, Billy, past this saloon when several celebrating cowboys spotted us. They unhitched Billy, took him into the saloon while I sat on the curb bawling. After a 30-minute interval, the cowboys shoved poor Billy out the door. They had filled him with whiskey and he could not navigate. After helping him across the street, I leaned him up against a wooden building where the old First State Bank building is presently located, and ran home for help. Finally Dad and I loaded Billy on the wagon he had been hitched to, and carted him home. He lived but had a terrible hangover.”

~ Charles Tagert, This is What I Remember

MEEKER | Meeker’s downtown buildings have provided a backdrop for the colorful lives of Meekerites since the late 1880s.

One such cornerstone building is the new home of Streamline Realty, and owner Suzan Pelloni’s connection goes much deeper than just her name on a title.

A LITTLE HISTORY

According to the Meeker Herald, the first business built on the site that now houses Streamline Realty was a livery stable, constructed by an A.J. Gregory and G. Washington Jones. The property was purchased from the Town of Meeker in 1887 for $15.84, and included land that now houses Chippers, MindSprings and the former bakery and most recently, flower shop, along Sixth Street.

Mary Little (note the “i” and not the “y”; this was not a Little of the local newspaper variety) purchased the lot from Mr. Gregory around 1887. Mrs. Little and her husband Tom ran the “Cabinet Saloon” until the property was foreclosed on in 1890.

In September 1891, prominent area businessman Isaac Baer approached the county commissioners about erecting a building on the lot for county purposes. It appears the deal went through with no hiccups, as the Baer Building was constructed and housed Rio Blanco County’s offices between 1892 and 1898, with Mr. Baer charging the tenants $150 in rent. Accounting for inflation, that would be around $4,800 today.

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The Baer Building was one of few original structures to escape fire damage in Meeker’s early days. One Herald reports a close call in the June 17, 1893, edition, when some unhappy person doused a downtown building owned by a P.F. Welch and Co., with kerosene and set it ablaze.

“It was thought that the intense heat would cause the Baer Building, in which the post office and all the county offices are located, to also succumb to the flames, but fortunately it didn’t, although it cracked the brick walls and the window and door frames were roasted to a beautiful black,” the report reads. The paper goes on to say that in the excitement of moving the post office goods out of harm’s way, a room being used by the Methodists was overlooked, and they lost everything, including their organ.

The county started to transition into the first floor of the I.O.O.F. building (now Mountain Valley Bank at Fourth and Main) around 1898, and the Herald reports Gates Kersburg leased out two store rooms and remodeled them to suit his business of wholesale liquor trade in 1897.

Kersburg sold his business to P.F. Welch & Co. in the summer of 1903, and Welch scooched it down Sixth Street to a sandstone structure of similar construction and shape to Pelloni’s building, with an entrance along what is now the alley behind White River Electric. Unfortunately for Mr. Welch and his compatriots, that building was also burned to the ground April 29, 1904, along with a livery located where Chippers currently stands. (It appears the Welch family gave up on the saloon business after that.)

The building and surrounding “Baer Block” would serve as a functional office space for an array of businesses during the next 20 years, some of whom were wise enough to advertise in their local paper, providing a literal paper trail of Meeker business history.

Tenants included a judge, a “practical jeweler” by the name of F.M. Jones, E.T. Sumner, a “tonsorial artist” who specialized in shaving, haircutting, hair-dressing and shampooing, a meat market, a bookstore, a doctor’s office, a restaurant and rooming house, and in 1920 the White River Freight Line owned by C.T. Gwynne. The Baer Building may have also been the location of Gwynne’s other business, a hardware store, although the ads we found did not list a proper street address (because when there are only 10 buildings in town, addresses aren’t really necessary).

The surrounding Baer Block was home to the aforementioned ill-fated sandstone building and livery, another restaurant, The New York Stores Co. (briefly), F.M. Fishback & Co., a traveling photographer who promised “We can get good pictures of the Baby,” the Grinstead Bakery, and more.

Mr. and Mrs. Baer died Nov. 16, 1920, near Albuquerque, New Mexico, when a passenger train collided with their automobile, leaving a void in newspaper reports of what was happening with their local properties until 1923, when the Craig Empire reported “the Baer block at Meeker is to be rebuilt and enlarged during the coming year.”

THE TAGERTS

Pelloni’s family connection to the building rests with Meeker pioneers James Lincoln “Link” and Fannie (Wear) Tagert, her great-great grandparents.

Link Tagert came to Meeker from Leadville in 1884 when he was 15 years old. He ran cattle in Axial Basin. The pioneers took a liking to him, and he stayed in Meeker for a time before settling down in the Piceance Creek basin, where he worked cattle for five or six years, “becoming a top cow hand and no slouch at riding bucking horses,” according to the Meeker Herald. Tagert would eat lunch with the Ute Indians, including Colorow. He was on Piceance Creek in 1887 during the Ute War, and also during the 1899 freeze that killed thousands of cattle.

In 1893, Tagert made his way to Denver for a commercial course at Denver University, then worked in the stock yard as an office man. He returned to Meeker three years later and went to work for Ambrose Oldland. Tagert was elected county assessor in 1896 and served two terms. Then he bought a butcher shop with George Lord and ran it for a short time. After that, Tagert went to work for the Forest Service.

Link married Fannie Wear Aug. 1, 1901. The family grew to include five children, and they operated ranches, ran cattle and raised their family over the next two decades.

In 1908, Tagert was elected county treasurer and served in that office for 10 years. Around this time, he also worked as a ranch manager for the Sulphur Creek Ranch 12 miles north of Meeker. According to a Colorado College interview of Link’s daughter Margaret Jones, the owner of the ranch spent a good deal of time in Bermuda and needed someone to keep up the place. After his stint as treasurer, Link bought cattle and leased the Toothe ranch, running it concurrently with his own outfit..

In 1922, Tagert retired from ranching and took over Gwynne Hardware, which was located in the Baer Building. When Gwynne’s was liquidated, he started Tagert Hardware and carried on the business until he retired and sold it to two of his sons.

Link Tagert never owned the building that bore his name for more than 20 years, which was quite a surprise to Pelloni. Link’s son Ralph and wife Helen bought it in 1946.

The hardware business was then sold to a Conrado, who moved it down to the former Strata office on Main Street. In 1952, the Baer Building “had a really nice plain run as a drug store” according to Pelloni. Drug store owners included the Strehlke family, the Sides family and Ed Jirak successively. The building has also housed a Radio Shack, an office supply store and office space for other businesses. The building was most recently owned by the Cleverlys of Craig, Colorado.

BACK TO THE PRESENT

Pelloni bought the building on Oct. 23, 2020 (just three days–and 74 years–shy of her great-grandparents purchase date of Oct. 26, 1946.) Renovations uncovered several historical treasures — and a few headaches — along the way. One favorite was an original Tagert Hardware tag stapled up in the unfinished store room (which will be on display in the Streamline Realty office), large antique beaded glass panels that spell out TAGERT along both the Sixth and Main Street sides of the building (all of which are currently being preserved for display inside the building), a few copies of 1960s-era Rocky Mountain News papers, one of which features a front page story about a missing broker; another reports the Watergate scandal.

During renovations, they were surprised to discover a good chunk of red brick on the east side that was replaced sometime prior to the 1920s due to a mysterious mishap, as well as multiple layers of flooring – carpet, linoleum and an oily paper layer. The removal process was tedious but worth it, as the original hardwood floors have been refinished and are on display. Imperfections exist (including what appears to be a large oil spill just outside the store room), but add to the building’s character.

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“People love the hardwood floors, they assume they are new and wonder why there are such distinct cuts. I often respond by saying that I’m not sure why they built it like that in 1891,” Pelloni said.

The building was not in great shape, either. “It was a hard go with the build just because of supplies and COVID and craziness,” and doing the real estate business at the same time.” Rehab was completed just in time for the real estate market to go crazy, so don’t expect to see Pelloni slowing down any time soon.

The building, Pelloni says, is a “baby in itself.” She wants it to be a lasting community cornerstone, and it has awakened a passion for local history that she’s never experienced before. “I did not have much interest in history until I bought this,” she commented.

Pelloni is always looking for new tidbits of knowledge, so if you have a story to tell about the building or the Tagert family, stop by 600 Main St.

This Fourth of July, Streamline Realty will host a grand opening celebration starting after the parade and continuing until 1 p.m. when the bank robbery reenactment starts. You can enter to win a Meeker gift basket and enjoy taking a look around the fully remodeled space.

“I really hope that what I’ve done will last for another 100 years,” Pelloni said.

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By NIKI TURNER – editor@editorht1885.com