An effort to restore a resplendent nearly 120-year-old railroad depot in downtown Grand Junction is taking a significant step forward with new state grant funding.
Located at 119 Pitkin Avenue, the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Depot was designed in the Italian Renaissance style by well-known Chicago architect Henry John Schlacks and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Active train service at the depot was discontinued in 1992 when Amtrak moved its operations to the adjacent Grand Junction Station.
Since then, city officials and preservationists have been trying to find a new use for the depot. Some seven years ago private investors Veronica Sanchez and Dustin Anzures purchased the property with the idea of rehabilitating a structure that has long been neglected.
To that end, the State Historical Fund, which is a part of the organization History Colorado, has just announced that it is awarding a $50,000 grant to fund the creation of the depot’s rehabilitation construction documents.
The grant award has been sent to the Grand Junction Downtown Development Authority, which has been spearheading the rehabilitation project.
Creation of those construction documents are needed in order to apply for future project funding and preservation tax credits.
In a statement, Brandon Stam, executive director of the Downtown Grand Junction Partnership, remarked: “We’ve seen historic rail buildings like this given a second life as re-imagined community gathering spaces such as museums, event halls, restaurants, and bars.”
As it neared its unveiling in 1906, the depot was lauded for its design by the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, which called it “one of the prettiest in the West,” adding: “Inside and outside, the big structure is a thing of beauty.”
By Garry Boulard
