oUR HISTORY

IT’S 116 YEARS AGO IN DOWNTOWN MONTROSE, COLORADO AND EXCITEMENT IS IN THE AIR.

President William Howard Taft himself visited on September 23, 1909 for the official opening of the Gunnison Tunnel—ushering in a new era of generational agricultural production and ranch life in the beautiful Uncompahgre Valley.

The General Contractors who built the KP Building (White & Okey) were responsible for many of the prominent downtown buildings in historic downtown Montrose including the Montrose Fruit & Produce Building, the Masonic Temple, the Hartman Brothers building, the old City Hall, and the Montrose County Courthouse.

The Knights of Pythias were founded in Washington, D.C. on February 19, 1864 by Justus Henry Rathbone, who had been inspired by a play by the Irish poet John Banim about the legend of Damon and Pythias. Rathbone believed the Knights and their principles of Friendship, Compassion, and Benevolence could do much to heal the wounds of a country torn apart by the Civil War. Knights of Pythias lodges spread across Colorado (including Telluride, Crested Butte, Durango, Rico, Ridgway, Ouray & Silverton) and elsewhere across the country. The Knights of Pythias were the first fraternal order to receive a charter from the U.S. Congress.

On October 19, 1909 the Montrose Free Press proudly reported that the fraternal organization and secret society Knights of Pythias (Cascade Lodge #33) had successfully completed their magnificent new “KP Building” at the corner of South 1st Street and South Cascade Avenue in downtown Montrose.

“Characterized by an elegance of architectural lines and by an artistic finish that is scarcely every duplicated in cities far larger than Montrose…evidently built for the future…a building which will be a credit to the City of Montrose”.

Montrose, Colorado is approximately 175 miles directly southwest of Denver, 60 miles south of Grand Junction, 65 miles north of Telluride, and 92 miles west of Gunnison. Montrose was founded in 1882, with the arrival of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad (D&RGRR).

The KP Building is in the center of historic downtown, east of the Montrose Post Office, north of the Elks Lodge, across the alley west of the old City Hall & original Montrose Fire Department, as well as northeast of the Montrose County Courthouse and directly adjacent to the historic Fox Theater. The KP Building continues to represent the civic aspirations of its early citizens, alongside these other landmark buildings.

The second floor of the KP Building was used primarily for Cascade Lodge #33 meetings, social functions, dances, musical and dramatic performances. The fire stairs (since removed) on the building were the first in Montrose. Spaces on the street level were leased to different organizations including a variety of grocery stores, auto dealers, furniture stores, and the Elks Club before their building was completed across the street.

A List of first floor businesses that occupied the Knights of Pythias Building

• Fred Price & Co., Storage commission and second hand store - March 1916-October 1917

• Baker-Reinhardt Motor Company - November 1917-January 1918

• Swain-Van Derbur Motor Company (Purchased Baker-Reinhardt Motor Company - G. L. Swain and F. C. Van Derbur) - January 1918-October 1921, which became simply Van Derbur Motor Company by August 1919,

• Bennett, Schaler, Finch, and Loper, General Service Garage (C. E. Bennet, J. A. Finch, and Earl Schaller) - November 1921-February 1922 *x*

• Piggly Wiggly Market - In 1922, they were on the ground floor of the Masonic Temple on Main Street. We are unsure of the location of the store later in its history. Piggly Wiggly may have become part of Safeway stores in about 1929. It is possible that they were there until Safeway filled the space in 1944.

• Safeway - 1944-1947 (Fig. 5)

• Mash Appliance - early 1950s

• Hupp Furniture - 1955-1958

• C & R Furniture - 1960

• Gibson Furniture - 1963 Flairmont Furniture - 1964-1968 confirmed, but probably longer.

• Budgetline Furniture - 1994-2012 (Albert F. and Edward D. Moreland; Fire in 2012

A 2012 fire in the derelict apartments that had moved into the 2nd floor almost brought the KP Building down to the ground.

The past decade plus saw the once proud KP Building shuttered and in danger. Its stately brick walls were cracked floor to ceiling in dozens of places. Chunks of the ornate concrete ornamentation were falling onto the sidewalk. She was standing up, but she wasn’t standing up by much. She had a leaky roof, no power, no water, asbestos, mold, and many structural problems. For many years, the citizens of Montrose watched as the building crumbled and wondered what was going to happen.

She wanted to be pretty again.

In 2022, the Rathbone Team made a bold commitment to bring the KP Building back as a community gathering space and viable place of business within Montrose’s downtown core and civic center.

A multi-year complex remediation, stabilization, and complete renovation of the KP Building followed….taking the KP Building from once destitute to now divine.

The Rathbone Hotel and Parlor Bar cut the ribbon and opened its doors to the public on July 3, 2024.

We were honored to learn the KP Building met the extensive criteria to be added to the National Register of Historic Places and the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties, recognizing this property’s contribution to the heritage of downtown Montrose, the State of Colorado, and America's historic architectural resources.

From the very beginning the Rathbone Team aimed to preserve the building’s deep history while making it again the “credit to the City of Montrose” the Montrose Free Press envisioned 116 years ago.

In 2025, the Rathbone Hotel proudly accepted two significant historic preservation awards

History Colorado Stephen H. Hart Award for Historic Preservation -- People’s Choice

Given out annually, the Stephen H. Hart Awards are Colorado’s highest recognition for historic preservation project work being done in the Centennial State every day. Each project contributes to the field of preservation because of their innovative approaches, in-depth research, and/or use of proper techniques that honor the historic significance of the buildings and the civic aspirations as of the citizens who built them.

Rathbone Hotel | People's Choice Award | Stephen H. Hart Awards 2025

Colorado Preservation, Inc. Citizens State Bank Honor Award

State Honor Awards annually recognizes individuals, organizations, public agencies, and businesses from across the state, whose work demonstrates excellence in historic preservation. Past winners include the Grand Imperial Hotel (Silverton), Redstone Castle (Carbondale), Wheeler Opera House (Aspen) and the Pitkin County Courthouse (Aspen).

2025 DCA - Colorado Preservation, Inc.