Schofield Farm, Erie, Colorado

We completed an historic structure assessment for the Schofield Farm & Open Space in 2019 and are in the process of preparing the Construction Documents for the first phase of the project. Many of our projects progress in this manner, where we start with assessment and prioritization, and then move into the first phase of work. We wanted to share the history we uncovered at Schofield as we’ve worked on this multi-year project.

The Schofield Farm is owned by the Town of Erie and comprises of 75 acres total; 35 acres of Erie Lake and 40 acres of the Schofield Farm. This remaining 40 acres was once a larger property of approximately 320 acres of land purchased originally by Hiram Prince from the Union Pacific Railroad between the years of 1889-1891.

Schofield Farm House

Hiram Prince was born in Mobile, Alabama on May 6, 1824. Records indicate that he was a sailor in his early life. In the early 1850s he relocated to St. Louis, Missouri. In 1856 he married Helan Mary Linzy. Records are not perfectly clear, but it appears that they had five (5) children. In 1863 Hiram and Mary moved west to Denver via wagon train. Hiram opened a blacksmith shop and it was noted in his obituary that the first omnibus ever used in Denver was built there. He served as the State water commissioner under Governor Maxwell for five years and from 1885 to 1889 he served as a member of the State Legislature. It should be noted that the State Capitol Building was yet to be constructed during his service, and it was said that Hiram was instrumental in the creation of Colorado’s state government. He was also on the board of education and was given the name “The Father of the Denver Schools”.

Schofield Farm Milk House & Root Cellar

According to an article in the Lafayette Leader in 1870 he sold his business in Denver and the family moved to Boulder County. In 1889 Hiram Prince purchased 160 acres of land from the Union Pacific Railroad and on July 11, 1891 Hiram purchased another 160 acres.

On February 21,1892 Hiram and Helan’s daughter, Mollie “Mary” M. Prince marries Alphonso Schofield and in 1893 Hiram deeds 96 acres to Mary and Alphonso. The main house was constructed sometime between 1893 and 1896. Mary and Alphonso had four children: Mary Emma, Archibald J., Walter H. and George.

Schofield Farm Original Barn

In 1898 Helan Mary Prince died; she was 60 years old. In 1905 the large barn was constructed. Records indicate that it was built using the Wizard Block Maker from Sears and Roebuck. The style of the barn is called a bank-in barn with the hay stored on the top floor, the horses on the floor below and the cows on the bottom. In that same year Alphonso was elected as the Treasurer of the School Board. In 1914 the concrete stave silo was constructed on the site.

In 1918 George Schofield marries A. Maud Walton and the couple moves onto the Schofield Farm. This same year Alphonso purchases a cheese factory in Lafayette. The Lafayette Leader article stated “George Schofield, son of the new proprietor, will act as manager and the business will be conducted under the name of The Lafayette Cheese Factory. Mr. Schofield states that it is his intention to also open a creamery and will be prepared to produce butter for the market”. On June 29, Mary (Mollie M.) Schofield dies and Alphonso and their four children inherited the property.

Schofield Farm Chicken Coop

There is some confusion between sources about whether George and Maud already lived on the Farm, or whether they moved in after Mary’s death. The article in the Lafayette Leader from 1918 announcing their marriage references that following their honeymoon the couple “will go to housekeeping on a farm of the groom’s father, four miles northwest of Lafayette”. However the narrative from the Boulder County Historic Landmark Nomination Form states that following Mary’s death George asked her to move onto the farm and that “Maude, graciously, gave up her house for a new cook stove and ice box, and took care of the cooking, washing, raising her daughter, helping her husband for the next 45 years”. According to the nomination a porch was added on the south-west corner of the home and that the south-east porch entrance was modified while Maude and George lived in the house.

In 1919 the Lafayette Farmers Elevator Company and the Lafayette branch of the Colorado Farmers Union was incorporated in February and Alphonso Schofield became the president and director of both. The Lafayette Leader reported that “the board of directors of the elevator company were instructed to at once attend to the matter of securing a site for the erection of the elevator, warehouses and other buildings which will be needed for the carrying on of the business. They were also empowered to secure plans for these buildings and let the contracts for their erection. It is the intention to push the completion of their plant without delay and to be ready to handle the members grain the coming season…”.

Schofield Farm – Big Barn

George and Maude officially incorporate the Schofield Farm on December 7, 1923. They worked very hard and almost lost the farm during the depression, but it is thought that their diversification into egg, chicken and dairy farming allowed them to save the property and continue operations. George and Maude’s only daughter Lois Marie married Joseph “Joe” Aloysius Distel on September 22, 1939. The farm continued operating under George and Maude until George’s death on March 24, 1965. Since Maude was then 65 and unable to work the farm on her own, she decided to sell.

In 1969 Joe and Lois Distel purchased the property back. At the time he was operating the Lafayette Grain Elevator. In 1981 Lois dies and Joe moves onto the farm, selling their house in town. This same year records indicate that the quonset hut machine shed is constructed. On August 2, 1982 Joe remarries Eva and the two continue to own and operate the farm together until Joe’s death in 2007. (Aside – Eva’s first husband was Gabor Cseh and the couple was involved in the development of Eldora Ski Area. Originally called “Lake Eldora” the ski area opened in 1962).

In 1984 the sun room was added along the south and east side of the house, enclosing the open porches. A painted metal sign still hangs on the south exterior wall of the sun room with “Welcome Joe-Eva-Distel”. It appears Eva may be the artist responsible for the sign as well as the motifs that still remain on the kitchen cabinets. One cabinet has “Aug 2 1982” and the letters “J” and “E” with two hearts and gold rings below.

Schofield Farm Kitchen

Following Joe’s death the property was transferred to Eva, Patricia Holt and Joseph Distel. In 1999 the property was nominated and August 13, 1999 the property was designated as a Boulder County Historic Landmark. In 2014 the property was deeded to the Town of Erie.

The Schofield Farm is planned to be rehabilitated and the first phase will focus on the Farm House. Beyond an Open Space site, some of the buildings will be adapted for event space.

We know it has been ages since we posted, but we’ve just been going with the flow, as everyone weathers these interesting times. We are still here and preserving historic buildings left and right. Here are a few from Spring/Summer 2020 to whet your appetite as you read through this update.  We do keep our Instagram updated with our projects, so if you have not started following us, please do!

NoLo Office Phase 2 Construction

Building 500 Phase 4 Windows

Holmes Hardware Window Analysis

4 Bar 4 Stagecoach Hotel Foundation

McConnell Rehabilitation

St. Cajetan Cross Repairs

With the pandemic, work has changed for everyone. We have been fortunate to adapt to working-from-home fairly seamlessly. For those of you following along on our business journey, we started Form Works at Jessica’s kitchen table and bounced around to libraries and coffee shops in between working from our homes. So, the transition for us was a return to our start-up days. Regardless, big shout out to our amazing husbands and kids for being extremely supportive and resilient.

As we’ve seen with other friends and businesses, this has been a great time of reflection. With our successful transition to 100% working from home, we’ve spent our spare time discussing our future goals and dreams. From inception, Form Works has had a long-term plan for a mountain office. When we started discussing this goal, it was more of a 5-10 years down the road thought. However, with recent events and our ability to maintain service to Denver and the Front Range from our homes, we started taking a closer look.

When a small office space freed up along Leadville’s historic Harrison Avenue, all the stars began to align. While we are sad to leave our first office in the historic Edward W. Wynkoop Building, we are excited to join the tenants and Owners caring for our “new” building. We are looking forward to expanding our ability to better serve our mountain clients.

A little about the new digs: the historic Fearnley Block/Iron Building was built in 1893. It was completed right as the nationwide silver crash was occurring. It is thought the name “Iron Building” was given because the discovery of iron ore in the region was a saving grace for Leadville’s economy. This tidbit is all that we know right now, but with a voracious appetite for building histories, we will most certainly be starting our research and see what else we can find out.

Packing up

Farewell to our first office

Leadville Iron Building

New Office

Unpacking

We will not be fully settled into the new space until the end of September, but please note our address change:

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 476, Eastlake, Colorado 80614

New Office Address: 516 Harrison Avenue, Leadville, Colorado 80461

We are looking forward to the day we can have visitors in our new space. In the meantime – we hope everyone is doing well. We are sending out virtual hugs and best wishes.

On January 31, 2020 Form+Works was honored to receive two awards at the History Colorado 2020 Stephen H. Hart Awards for Historic Preservation; one for the restoration of the Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum (aka Tony’s Conoco) and one for the rehabilitation of the Bosler Yankee House. We are absolutely honored to have worked on these buildings and to have been part of the great teams who made them possible. History Colorado put together videos about these and all the Hart awardees. To watch the videos click here

Before and After of the Bosler Yankee House

After Photo of the Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum

To learn more about the Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum, visit their website by clicking here.

The 4Bar4 Ranch is located near the Town of Fraser, Colorado. The Town was officially established in 1904, however the Ranch was homesteaded in 1895 by Dick McQueary. McQueary established a stop for the Georgetown and Middle Park Stagecoach Line that ran between Idaho Springs and Hot Sulphur Springs, over Berthoud Pass. The ranch was one of two stops on the west side of the pass where horses were changed out. For the purposes of the Stagecoach stop, a log hotel and barn were erected utilizing trees on the property.

The hotel remained operational until 1913. From 1913-1917 the Barn was converted into a Ford Motor Company dealership, selling Model T’s*, thus it has become known as “The Ford Barn”. Rumor has it that there was a ramp where they would take the cars to the second level of the Barn for display. JVA, our structural engineer, would likely have panicked should we have proposed such a use for the second story of the structure today.

In 1917, Harry Larkin purchased the property and re-established it as a cattle ranch. The ranch remained operational until the late 1980s when it was left vacant. The property was acquired by the Stagecoach Meadows Homeowner’s Association and unfortunately in 2014 the roof of the hotel collapsed. This led to a focused effort by Stagecoach Meadows and their preservation partners to save these early log structures.

Stagecoach Hotel circa 2012

In 2015, Jessica completed a Historic Structures Assessment of the two buildings. At the time, both were in very poor shape. Years of settlement put the bottom rows of logs below grade, resulting in deterioration that shifted the structures. With the roof collapse on the hotel, it was determined that the roof of the barn should be dismantled for safety reasons. The Barn was temporarily shored and a temporary membrane was installed over the top of the existing structure to protect it from further deterioration. The Stagecoach hotel was dismantled, maintaining good sections of the walls in one piece, all parts were labeled and stored.

Stagecoach Hotel and Ford Barn Beyond 2015

Stagecoach Hotel 2015

Interior Stair – Stagecoach Hotel 2015

Interior Wall of Stagecoach Hotel 2015

Ford Barn 2015

Since the assessment, through continued funding through the State Historical Fund and support and efforts of Colorado Preservation Inc., the rehabilitation of the Barn has been completed. Our team developed the documents and monitored the construction activities and we are pleased to see the Ford Barn back. The project involved a new foundation below the log structure, replacing deteriorated components, introducing roof trusses and much more. Currently the replacement pieces are discernable, but in a few years the wood will patina to blend with the historic.

This fall/winter we’ve been developing the reconstruction documents for the Stagecoach Hotel.  As soon as the Spring weather allows, construction will begin. Stay tuned!

*Fun facts: Natalie comes from a long-line of Ford enthusiasts. When Natalie’s Dad was 19, he and a friend drove a 1929 Ford Model A Sedan from Lees Summit, Mo to Vail, Co for a Model A car show. It was an adventurous trip with break downs and all. Natalie and her family are in the process of restoring their ’72 Bronco and they recently inherited a ’68 Mustang from her husband’s Aunt. 

When the snow starts to fly in the high country, some of our clients share the same concerns on whether their fragile historic structure will survive the winter. This was the case at our North London Mill Project. Last fall we completed a temporary stabilization of the Office to ensure the structure remained standing for the next phase of work. Knowing we encounter similar building conditions and concerns, we wanted to share a bit about the process.

North London Mill Office Before Temporary Stabilization

The North London Mill is located along Mosquito Pass, one of Colorado’s most infamous 4WD roads that runs between Leadville and Alma. Snow starts falling in October and, some years, it doesn’t let up until late spring/early summer. However, the high winds in the region are year-round. These high country mining structures are at great risk due to the unpredictable snow and wind loads, as illustrated by what is left of them.

Severe Interior Deterioration Before Stabilization

Ian Glaser, Our Structural Engineer From JVA, Inc, Stands Between The Exposed Floor Joists

Another Interior View Of The Deteriorated Conditions

The office received a State Historical Fund Grant in 2018 to complete temporary stabilization and construction documents for the rehabilitation of the building and just received notice of award for another SHF grant to complete the first phase of construction work.

Since the Office is in the best condition of all the remaining structures on the site, it was determined as the best place to start. The building will be adapted into a backcountry ski hut, offering a place of respite and relaxation after an epic day of skiing found right out the back door.

Andy Carlson, Of A&M Renovations, LLC, Digs A Test Pit To Expose The Base Of An Interior Wall

The stabilization grant began with evaluation and documentation. We developed permit documents, that underwent review by History Colorado for compliance with all Secretary of the Interior Standards. Once approved they were submitted to Park County.

Diagonal Bracing Installed At Exterior Walls And Salvaged Materials Are Sorted And Stacked Inside For Reuse

Chimney Framing Remains In Place. Brick Was Deconstructed For Safety

The temporary stabilization efforts included the installation of shoring and brace framing on the interior of the Office. The interior wood lathe was removed, except for an area where we encapsulated it, in order to straighten the framing and pin it in place (Note the horizontal boards at the bottom of the wall framing in the photos above). The brick chimneys were deconstructed to prevent them from falling. Flooring and trim was uninstalled and stacked. A lot of the material has already been lost and some of the surviving material will be too deteriorated and rotten to reuse. But we will reuse what we can and utilize the remaining for patterns in recreating material.

Portion Of Wood Lathe and Plaster Encapsulated With Plywood On Each Side Of A Wall

The most important piece of the temporary stabilization activities was enclosing the roof, doors and windows to help slow water from entering the building. A temporary visqueen membrane was installed with wood battens on the roof. The door and window openings were enclosed with plywood.

Mill Office After Temporary Stabilization Activities

This Summer the Office will get a new foundation and the framing and structure will be rehabilitated. New structural members will be integrated into the framing to bring the building up to current code, making it better able to cope with the areas snow and wind loads.

Another part of this Summer’s grant will involve the preparation of stabilization documents for the Mill Building, a much bigger task than the 6-room Office Building. Utilizing similar methodology, our team will design stabilization documents that will hopefully be implemented before next winter.

Future projects for the Office will replace the roof, install windows, doors and siding, as well as interior finishes to make it officially habitable as a hut. Fortunately historic photographs of the site gave us clues to detail the missing exterior features.

North London Mill (Mill Office In The Distance)

The Mill projects will include stabilization and rehabilitation activities to make the site safe for the public. Preliminary planning is underway to program the site into a year-round destination, providing backcountry and outdoor training and hosting a plethora of events. The project is spearheaded by Jeff Crane and Kate McCoy, of North London Mill Preservation Inc., a non-profit team working tirelessly to find funding partners to tackle this sizable project. Multi-phased projects may seem intimidating, however this is a common practice for us. It all starts with proper planning. Our first step began with completing a Historic Structures Assessment to determine the overall list of needs for the site. Then working with the North London Team we developed the prioritized plan. Now it is just a matter of tackling them one by one.

We love working on unique and complex projects of this nature. To stay up to date on the latest news of the North London Mill, be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram.