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The Stone Barn Livery Stable and One Boulder Plaza
As Boulder grew into a supply town for the prosperous mining operations in the mountains, some of the earliest companies incorporated in the new State of Colorado were road-building firms, wagon team companies, irrigation system engineers, the mining companies themselves, and early railroads. Through the early decades Boulder always managed to cull out small industry and placed a high premium on town integrity, a close-knit social and business community, and careful attention to developing schools for primary, preparatory, and university education. In fact, the first purpose-built schoolhouse in Colorado was built at the intersection of 14th and Walnut, just across from the current post office. The town grew slowly through to the end of the 19th century, remained small and from the outset was abuzz with enterprising men and women establishing the myriad services that a fledgling town needs. Among these was an incredible array of livery stables that served as the parking lots and rent-a-carriage services downtown that new arrivals at the Boulder train station needed. The Station, located at 14th and Canyon (first known as 'Water Street') had a spur of tracks that curved across an open field between 13th and Broadway (12th) and between Canyon and Walnut Street (first known as 'Front Street'). Just off this spur the famous Stone Barn Livery Stable was built by Lem McIntosh in 1874. It was a wonderful stone structure with a high vaulted entry for horses and carriages. The horses were fed and stabled in the back of the two-story building. This building (at the intersection of 13th and Walnut on the southwest corner) was used continually until 1927 when it was bought by the Watts-Hardy Dairy (with adamant announcements in the press regarding its cleaning and refurbishing for dairy use). The Dairy kept the Stone Barn in service until it was taken down in 1957 for a parking area at the First National Bank that had moved from Pearl and Broadway to Canyon and Broadway. The area was used for bank customers (including those later for BankOne on the same site) until the spring of 2002 when One Boulder Plaza dug past the foundations of the old Livery Stable and built the second of the four buildings of the new Plaza campus. One hundred years' service is not at all bad for 1870s architecture, you'd say. But given the serious emphasis placed on the quality of materials, the caliber of the engineering, and the long-enduring style of the architecture of the One Boulder Plaza buildings, they may well rival McIntosh's Stone Barn. |
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