The Cortez Historic Preservation Board is holding a public meeting on Wednesday, August 23, 2023 at 6:00 PM in the Mesa Verde room at Cortez City Hall, 123 Roger Smith Avenue, Cortez, CO. Members of the Cortez Preservation Board, Woods Canyon Archaeological Consultants, and Architectural Historian Jen Wahlers will present the results of a survey of historic auto/tourism properties in Cortez. The summary of the inventory and the final report will be available on the City’s web site at www.cityofcortez.com/408/Historic-Structures-and-Preservation.
With the post WWII baby boom underway, families began traveling for vacation to visit places like Mesa Verde National Park. New motels were built to accommodate the travelers, and gas stations and garages sprang up to service the automobiles. Cortez experienced all of these changes as part of a national trend.
In 2021, the City of Cortez hired Woods Canyon Archaeological Consultants and Architectural Historian Jen Wahlers to complete a survey plan for inventorying historic properties within the City limits. The highest priority properties were 17 motels, restaurants and gas stations which still exist in Cortez. In 2022, the City received a grant from History Colorado to undertake an inventory of these post WWII auto/tourism properties.
Fourteen of the 17 properties are eligible for the City of Cortez Register of Historic Sites, and nine are potentially eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. These include Burger Boy, the Speedway Gas Station at 921 E. Main St., and the Aneth and Tomahawk Lodges. Only three properties in Cortez are currently listed on the National Register: Ertel Funeral Home, Montezuma Valley National Bank (KSJD), and the Calkins Building (Calkins Commons.)
Over the last 12 years, the Cortez Historic Preservation Board has received ten grants from History Colorado to inventory historic properties within the City of Cortez. These inventories have identified 133 historic properties of which 47 have been listed on the City of Cortez Register of Historic Sites by their owners. Information about these inventories and the City Register can be found on the City website.
If you have any questions or need any additional information, please contact Helen West, at hwest@cortezco.gov or 970-565-3402.