202 Main Street

The Carbondale Improvement Company bought the property from the Carbondale Town and Land Company in 1890. By 1894, Channing Sweet started buying tax liens on the property and eventually took over ownership of the property. In 1902 he sold lots 1&2 to Henry Best (Besh?), who in turn sold to the Carbondale Creamery (S. D. Weant, president) in 1907 for $160. The Creamery was acquired through various liens by A. M. Mansfield (female) and operated at this location until 1917 when the operation was sold to A. R. Craig and E. E. Clark. They continued the operation as Farmer’s Creamery of Colorado. The 1917 sale described the following improvements: one tin horse tower boiler, one scoop shovel and boiler tools, one steam engine with belts and shafts with connectors and churn, one Friday butter printer, one Babcock steam turbine, one large galvanized iron water tank, one large, galvanized iron wash tank, 550 gal tank for milk, one skim milk (illegible) and whip, scales, steamer churn, platform scale, rotary buttermilk pump and all personal property connected to the creamery. In 1918 the operation was sold to C. E. Smoke.

Little information was found on Henry Best (Besh?). The name appeared in the 1910 census in Garfield County, Sunlight, as a farm laborer. S. D. Weant and his brother R. E. were cattlemen and entrepreneurs in both Carbondale and Glenwood. They operated a butcher shop in Glenwood from 1899 to approximately 1902. R. E. was in Rifle by 1903 and S. D. appears to have been in Carbondale through 1910. He was the president of the Creamery Corporation in 1907 and served a one-year term as mayor of Carbondale from 1909 to 1910. His other property at 687 Colorado (5GF.3771) sold in 1910 and no further references were found. A. M. Mansfield was not found in the census, but her husband (?) J. B., was found in the 1900 census in Leadville. He was described as a local merchant. No wife is listed. His name appeared on one of the early transactions with A. M. but does not appear on any subsequent transactions, including the final sale to Craig and Clark. Neither Craig nor Clark appeared in the 1910 or 1920 census. B. L. and C. E. Smoke (b. 1864 in Michigan) were found in the 1920 census and were listed as the proprietors of the creamery. Claude Smoke served as mayor of Carbondale from 1922 to 1923, but no other information was found on either of them.

Although some verbal accounts seem to take it into the 1930s at least, newspaper articles report that it was rebranded as Farmers Creamery and moved to Glenwood where it closes in the mid-1920s. Julius Diemoz owned the property in 1956 when he sold it to Richard E. and Clara M. Garner. They sold the property in 1993 to Gertrude Peet and she transfers the property to her son Jessen C. Pedersen, who is the current owner. The building currently houses some small retail uses and some offices.

This building is significant for its role in the development of Carbondale as an economic center for the surrounding mining and ranching operations. Several businesses were established during this period which either processed or otherwise supported the other economic activities in the region. The variety of industry located on Main Street has resulted in a variety of architectural forms that define the character of the community at the turn of the 20th century. The building’s simple forms and detailing are characteristic of the modest types of structures that were present during Carbondale’s development.

Several alterations have affected the original materials and character of the building. The addition of the porch/arcade somewhat confuses the original form of the building; overall, the impacts are considerable.

Town of Carbondale Downtown Survey Project, 2006, Reid Architects, Inc., Manuscript on file at History Colorado, Denver, Colorado.

Carbondalegov.org

Carbondale Historical Society

ColoradoHistoricNewspapers.org