There were many owners of the Rio Blanco Store, even more operators. I was able to document most: Irvin Melville & Lilie Arnold Kellogg, Carl &Lona Dixon Lindstrom; Andrew Asberry Alley Jr; Parker L. Snyder; Donald & May Snyder McKay; Benjamin Marton Strawbridge; Gene Voeltzel; Owen “Pete” George Roberts; Christian Lee Fender; Lillian Mae Johnson; Mr. & Mrs. Francis Fred Stapleton; Nathan Lyle & Gracie Mae Clubine Pickard; Jim & Dorothy Greer Withrow; Donney & Ruby Hutchings; Brothers Mike & Richard Brennan; Ora K. Harris, Donald & Sharon Murphy McFarland Ridgeway. Sammy and Kim Reid were the last owners.
Through much of the store’s history, it was also the RIOBLANCO post office. This is not a typo. The official name of the post office was one word, no spaces. It wasn’t until 1950 that the name changed to Rio Blanco. I traced many names from the list of Postmasters.
Stephanie Withrow Oldland spoke to me about living at the Rio Blanco Store as a teenager. Her parents, Jim, and Dorothy Withrow bought the RIO BLANCO STORE from the Pickards in 1962 when Stephanie was in sixth grade. She was a bit upset when they uprooted her from her friends in Fruita, Colorado. There was a separate building, almost a duplex, named the ‘pink house.’ Dorothy ran a beauty parlor in half and later Jim added a liquor store in the other half. Jim was the cook for the lunch counter. When the City Market in Rifle opened the RIO BLANCO STORE stopped selling groceries. The main building had a fireplace and big beams. During hunting season, cases of beer would be stacked floor to ceiling. Stephanie’s grandfather, John Withrow, would sometimes make 10 quarts of chili for the hunters. Dorothy was the official postmaster of Rio Blanco. Jim drove a postal route on Piceance Creek. Jim took over as carrier from Claude Riemer who lived on Government Road (Highway 13). Claude would take all day on his route. People on the route would call in a grocery order at the RIO BLANCO STORE and Claude would deliver them. Claude also stopped along the way to play cribbage. Later the post office was decommissioned and Jim would pick up the mail in Rifle and bring it back to deliver along his route. Stephanie remarked that they had no TV.
After the store had ceased operations, there were two ladies who parked a food truck there to sell to the Piceance Creek oil field workers. The food truck was remarkable in that it was painted PINK and shaped roughly like a pig. The Pink Pig was only there for one season. It must have been some sight, driving down Highway 13. Jackie B. says they were kicked off the property and moved operations down Piceance close to PL ranch. The Pink Pig and Rio Blanco Store are now just part of the history along Highway 13.
Sources: This Is What I Remember Books; Rio Blanco Historical Society; the Brennan family; Stephanie Withrow Oldland; US Postal Archives; Coloradohistoricalnewspapers.org; Mike and Jackie Brennan; Rio Blanco County Clerk; Ridgeway family; Dan at the Northwest Colorado Museum; Meeker Herald; Coloradohistoricalnewspapers.org.
