Article by Lillian Ross
Historic Preservation – January 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine
A HUNDRED YEARS AGO, you were a hard-working utility plant, huffing and puffing steam to generate electrical power for the town of Salida. You wore your mantle — “Salida Steam Plant” — proudly for more than 50 years.
Then you fell on hard times. For 30 years, you stood idle. The only Salida residents who paid you any attention were the town’s pigeons, taking up residence in the west wing of your Sackett Avenue address. Oh, how they had their way with you.
But, happy days are here again. You’ve been cleaned up spic-n-span and metamorphosized into an entertainment venue with conference center aspirations. Today, you’re the pride of the Arkansas Riverwalk, and your future’s bright.
The Past
Each year, the letters painted on the front of this historic building become harder and harder to read, “Salida Steam Plant and Public Service Co. of Colorado.” But it was the Salida Steam Plant which had first bragging rights.
Electrical power was introduced in Salida in August of 1887 when a group of town folks gathered at, what was, the Monte Cristo Hotel, and created The Electric Illuminating Company. Later that year, its name changed: The Edison Electric Light Company patterned itself after Thomas Edison’s Pearl Street Station, which provided the first lighting for New York City.
As its first customer, the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad gave the fledgling company a strong start with its contract for ten arc lights and 125 incandescent 16-candlepower lamps. The company fired up its two dynamos, and the lamps on the F Street Bridge were lit for the first time.
In 1892, to meet the growing needs of the area, the now named Salida Light and Power Company, a 1,000-kilowatt steam generating plant, was built on Sackett Avenue on the banks of the Arkansas River. The small building grew as power demands escalated.
The construction of the Salida Steam Plant was dictated by the functional requirements of coal-fired power generating plants. The building comprised two sections, located east and west of a central wall.
The east half of the building stored the generators and dynamos. (Today, this is the section that contains the 186-seat theater.)
The west section, affectionately known as the Pigeon Room, contained boilers, furnaces and fuel storage. (Plans for this room include the establishment of a conference and meeting facility).
Adjacent to the building on the west is an enclosed yard which once held the transformers for the power plant. (Today, this area is a Sculpture Park with works on loan from noteworthy Colorado sculptors.)
In 1924, the Salida Light and Power Company, which had been purchased by the Colorado Power Company, consolidated with Public Service Company of Colorado. Salida’s Steam Plant was operated successfully by Public Service until 1958.
Then economics reared its realistic head. When power became cheaper to come by through the Poncha substation, Public Service Company bowed out of the Salida Steam Plant operation. The building was abandoned, and from 1958 to 1988, it deteriorated into a home for flocks of pigeons and the mess they left behind.
Salvaged was the Steam Plant’s old generator, which stands as a pioneer monument outside the Cherokee Generating Station in Denver.
The Renaissance
When Public Service Company sold the Steam Plant to Salida Enterprise for Economic Development (SEED) in 1987, new life was breathed into this historic structure.
Crews from the Buena Vista Correctional Facility assisted SEED with the massive clean-up of the Pigeon Room in the building’s west end, and with construction of the theater in the east end.
The Powerhouse Players of Dallas, Texas performed melodramas here in summer seasons and continued remodeling during the next three years.
Requests for local programming began to grow, and the City of Salida regained ownership of the building in 1991.
Support of the theater’s cultural opportunities developed quickly, and a volunteer committee of local residents, now called the Salida Steam Plant Council (SSPC), started managing the venue as a performance space.
In addition, the Council also sponsors dance, theater and art workshops for children and adults, and the theater’s lobby features works by local artists and artisans.
The Present, The Future
The mission of the SSPC is “to renovate, manage and develop the Steam Plant so it can be used as a cultural, educational and community center encouraging broad regional participation.”
Last year, the Council embarked on a master plan to achieve the goals of its bylaws. The Council’s plan will be completed in a series of stages as monies become available through donations, pledges and grants. Estimates for each of the phases, and a suggested order for implementation, have been developed by architect Hugh Brown of Davis Partnership of Denver.
Over the past few years, grants have been received from the Colorado State Historical Fund, the Boettcher Foundation, Gates Foundation, Adolph Coors Company, the El Pomar Foundation, the Community Development Block Grant, and Wal-Mart. There was also a Colorado Arts Council Co-Visions Grant to Bernice Strawn, among others. And pledges from individuals have helped the Plant’s renovation plan significantly. In all, hundreds of thousands of dollars have been committed and pledged.
Much of the money has been spent on tasks that go unseen — heating and ventilation systems, repair of masonry, re-roofing and structural stabilization. With the installation of the Plant’s new heating system, audiences can enjoy performances year-round. November’s repertoire of theatrical offerings could not have occurred without the comfort of a heated auditorium.
These seats will be placed in the Steam Plant on risers with radiant heating. The stage area will be backed up to the garage doors on Sackett Street, allowing for easy access for equipment, sets, light grids and a catwalk. This arrangement will provide a better working operation for performers, as well as a more enjoyable experience for audiences.
The Conference Center
When the long-range conference center plans for the Steam Plant’s Pigeon Room are completed, businesses and organizations in Salida, Chaffee County and south central Colorado will also be able to conduct conferences, meetings and parties in the provincial charm of this historic location on the Arkansas River.
And, if all goes as expected, this will come to fruition within the next few years.
Phase two of the SSPC’s renovation plan has already begun. Workers have been busy this autumn installing a new roof over the west wing of the Steam Plant — the area which will someday serve as an attractive conference center for groups of approximately 200.
Plans call for the placement of hardwood floors for meetings and dances, a catering kitchen, rest rooms and storage facilities. Heat and ventilation systems will be extended from the building’s theater side.
As much as possible, the historic “Salida brick,” with which the Steam Plant was constructed, will be used. Conferees will enter the center from the Sculpture Garden to the west, and from the Arkansas Riverwalk to the north. Having access to the Steam Plant theater for lectures or meetings will be an added benefit.
Additional plans include creating “break out” meeting rooms in the basement with a single occupant elevator for wheelchair access.
By no means does the Steam Plant Conference Center hope to compete with large meeting facilities in cities on the Front Range. But by the same token, city conference centers often lack the historic integrity of a facility such as the Steam Plant.
Contributions to the Steam Plant are tax deductible at both the state and federal levels, since the facility recently was awarded 501(c)3 status, as an independent tax exempt organization. Donations of appreciated stocks and bequeaths of funds and stocks are also tax exempt.
In addition, the Salida Steam Plant is now a designated project of the Upper Arkansas/San Luis Valley Enterprise Zone of the State of Colorado, and contributors may qualify for a tax credit off the bottom line of state income taxes.
For more information, contact Helen Hanselmann, President SSPC, 719-942-3725.
Lillian Ross of Poncha Springs chairs the publicity committee of the SSPC, and also writes regular travel columns for the Denver Post, as well as features in Colorado Expressions, Destinations West and Vail Valley Golf magazines.