Montrose, CO — City Councilors have voted unanimously to place the iconic Coors Building, located at 134 North First Street, on the city’s Register of Historic Places.
In his presentation to City Council, City Planner William Reis said the Coors Building is over fifty years old and meets the historic register criteria for the city’s register due to its significant contribution to local history and for the characteristics of the type, period, and method of construction.
Reis said the building is associated with the history of saloons in Montrose, having been erected as a saloon and boarding house by the Adolf Coors Company in 1905. In 1868 Adolf Coors immigrated to the United States from Germany and bought a bottling company near Denver in 1872. In 1874 the Coors Brewing Company began selling beer from Golden and building saloons all over the west, including Montrose, to sell it.
In 1904 two lots were sold to build the Coors Building in Montrose for $2,000. The two-story building featured a saloon on the first story and boarding rooms on the second floor. A cold-storage building was erected behind the Coors Building with total construction cost for both structures totaling $10,000, according to Reis.
Following a ban on alcohol in Montrose in 1909, the Coors Building transitioned into the Vandeburg Hotel and housed guests traveling through the Montrose area.
“We’re very excited that the owner of the Coors Building has decided to add the building to the city’s Register of Historic Places,” Reis said. “The Coors Building definitely has one of the more interesting and unique histories in Montrose, and we’re very happy that we were able to tell a part of the building’s story.”
Over the decades the building has been sold many times and has been used for storefronts, apartments, and other uses. It still retains many of its original characteristics, including the Coors sign at the top of the structure.
The Coors Building is the 15th structure to be added to the city’s Register of Historic Places since the program was created in the fall of 2019.
City of Montrose Register of Historic Places:
- City Hall: 433 South First Street, added on September 17, 2019
- Potato Growers Association Building: 39 West Main Street, added on October 1, 2019
- The Missouri Building: 347 East Main Street, added on March 17, 2020
- The Block Building: 345 East Main Street, added on March 17, 2020
- The former BPOE Lodge Building: 107 South Cascade Avenue, added on November 17, 2020
- Montrose Fire Department No. 1 Station: 24 South Uncompahgre Avenue, added on June 1, 2021
- Historic Montrose County Jail: 271 South First Street, added on July 6, 2021
- Denver and Rio Grande Depot: 21 North Rio Grande Avenue, added on July 20, 2021
- S.H. Nye Building: 428 East Main Street, added on March 1, 2022
- Knights of Pythias Building: 33 South Cascade Ave, added on November 1, 2022
- Montrose Electric Light & Power Co.: 44 S Grand Ave, added on December 6, 2022
- Montrose Radium Ore Sampler: 112 W Main Street, added on December 6, 2022
- Montrose Electric Light & Power Co. building, 7 S Townsend Ave, added on February 21, 2023
- Methodist Episcopal Church of Montrose, 19 S Park Ave, added on August 1, 2023
- Coors Building: 134 North First Street, added on September 5, 2023