Southern Ute Boarding School Campus

Listed: 2020

Constructed: Established 1901; extant buildings 1928-1930

Threat: Demolition; development

Closest Town to Resource: Ignacio

Significance: The Southern Ute Boarding School Campus is a rare survivor of a nearly intact campus-like environment remaining from the controversial boarding school initiative carried out by the federal government to strip indigenous populations of their heritage and culture. The Main School House, Dining Hall, Girl’s Dormitory, and quad with a center flagpole are the only remnants of the campus. The school building and gymnasium contain several Works Progress Administration-era murals by Southern Ute artist Sam Rey. The dining hall also is adorned with similar murals. The Southern Ute Tribe still utilizes the four historic buildings remaining on campus in various capacities. The campus is unique in that it was built within a reservation, unlike other boarding schools of this era throughout the country. Several native populations were taken here other than Southern Ute children, including students from the Navajo Nation and Ute Mountain Ute Tribes. Preservation of this site provides an educational opportunity to shed light on an underrepresented history in Colorado and the Nation’s past.

Site Needs: Listing on State Register of Historic Properties/National Register of Historic Places; adaptive reuse strategies. In 2021, a conservation study was completed on the WPA-era murals, and environmental remediation was completed for the Main School Building.

Closest Town to Resource: Lake City

Significance: Founded in 1874 as a supply and service center for hard rock mining, Lake City is now a community with a year-round population of less than 400 and a tourism-based economy. Key to Lake City’s heritage tourism efforts is its beautifully preserved commercial district and residential neighborhoods, which feature many spectacular examples of Victorian and Italianate architecture. The Lake City Historic District is one of Colorado's largest, oldest, and best-preserved historic districts. Interestingly, 37% of the contributing structures to the historic district are often overlooked and forgotten: the outbuildings and accessory structures of the high-style buildings that line the streets. The outbuildings include many structures, including outhouses, mule barns, carriage houses, coal sheds, root cellars, chicken coops, and sheds. Many of the outbuildings are obsolete in terms of their original use. As a result, they are not being maintained and have reached a critical point of deterioration. Local preservation ordinances disallow the active demolition of historically significant buildings contributing to the district.

HistoriCorps partnered with Colorado Preservation Inc. and the Town of Lake City in 2010 to successfully rehabilitate four historic outbuildings (the Bent Mule Barn, Culver Outhouse, McGehee Outhouse, and Rock Outhouse). In 2012, Colorado Preservation, Inc. drafted a prioritized ranking for the existing outbuildings the town could use to focus its efforts on restoration.

Site Needs: An updated historical survey and revised design guidelines incorporating the outbuildings and providing incentives for preservation and adaptive reuse.

Update: CPI provided guidance in 2019 for a successful CLG grant to update the historic district survey to incorporate other areas of the town and to bring the outbuildings under the purview of design review.

Ute Ulay Mill & Town Site

Listed: 2015

Constructed: 1870s through early 1900s

Threat: Demolition by neglect; vacant

Closest Town to Resource: Lake City

Significance: The Ute and Ulay mines were some of Colorado's best-known silver and lead producers. Thanks to LKA Gold, the ten-acre site has been donated to Hinsdale County. The environmental stabilization work has been completed with the assistance of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment, and the Bureau of Land Management. The site is located along the Alpine Loop Backcountry Scenic and Historic Byway and includes 18 structures the county would like to see stabilized and restored.

Site Needs: Funding, immediate concerns on the flume.

Update: The Ute Ulay is moving forward with Hinsdale County and other groups actively working to preserve and stabilize the site. A recent EPP Weekend Workshop put a new roof on a small addition, and a larger workshop with HistoriCorps stabilized other buildings on site. The site has also been awarded funds for various projects for the emergency stabilization of the property. Interpretive signage has also been developed to tell the story of the mine and mill.