A nearly century-old building in a small southern Colorado town may soon be the subject of a rehabilitation project.
Located at 603 Main Street in the town of Antonito, the structure, officially the La Sociedad Proteccion Mutua de Trabajadores Unidos (SPMDTU) building, was built in 1925 for the purpose of providing community meeting space for area Hispanic workers.
The 7,000-square-foot building has also through the decades been the home of any number of concerts, weddings, boxing matches, plays and movies, among other activities.
Listed on both the National and State Register of Historic Places, the building, also known as the Concilio Superior Building, has for some time been in need of an upgrading, including new roofing, and an effort to make the facility entirely Americans with Disabilities Act compliant.
Now the State Historical Fund, which is a part of the non-profit group History Colorado, has awarded a grant of just over $245,000 to be used in the rehabilitation effort. That funding is part of a total $875,000 that the group has awarded to the project in recent years.
Additional plans call for the creation of both a visitor center and research center.
The SPMDTU organization once had around 65 chapters, primarily in Colorado, Arizona, Utah, and Texas, and served as a mutual aid society, providing assistance to workers, while also endeavoring to combat discrimination.
The group, the Conejos County Citizen newspaper recently noted, continues today as a “diverse group of men and women who conduct monthly meetings and functions,” providing both community services and scholarships.
In a statement, Antonio Esquibel, vice president of the organization, said rehabilitation of the Antonito building is expected to spark “new interest in the organization and a desire to participate in its events and acknowledge the importance of the Hispano influence in the San Luis Valley.”
If all goes as planned, the rehabilitation work is expected to be completed, with the building once again open to the public, sometime in 2024.
By Garry Boulard
