History of the Building
The Murdock Building consists of three separate structures (Slater, Whitelaw and Schoggen buildings), located in historic downtown Eads, Colorado, founded in 1887 when the Missouri Pacific Railroad extended its line through Kiowa County to Pueblo.
Maine Street grew into the bustling gathering place for all who lived, farmed, ranched, worked on the railroad or passed through the area. Families would break from their extensive daily chores and conduct shopping trips to get groceries, dry goods, feed and other supplies in downtown Eads. The buildings at the corner of Thirteenth and Maine streets served as a commercial hub and backdrop for social life of Kiowa County and Eads, its county seat, for a century.
Together and separately, each of Murdock Building’s structures functioned for a variety of purposes throughout history. J. H. Slater constructed First National Bank on the corner in 1908. When the bank moved in 1918, the building became Strahan’s Café, Gambles variety store, a flower shop and the gas utility headquarters. In 1911, Walter Whitelaw built a dry goods and grocery store, which he operated with his partner Etta Obrien. A grocery store developed on the third lot by Whitelaw and Mittje Schoggen in the 1930s.
For decades, the Whitelaw and Schoggen Blocks remained the home of Wissels Dry Goods and Grocery store, with the second floors utilized as offices, a rooming house and public meeting rooms. When Wissels closed in 1998, the building was purchased by Teresa Witte and David Murdock, who operated Teresa’s Flower Shop. The partners purchased the Slater Block in 1999 and the three buildings became known as the Murdock Building. As time passed, commercial activity and population in Eads declined, leaving the Murdock Building vacant and deteriorating.
Future of the Building
A new opportunity arose when Kiowa County purchased the Murdock Building in 2007 with vision and plans to rehabilitate these structures for use as the visitor center for Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site (20 miles east of town), Center for Sand Creek Massacre Studies (learn more from Sand Creek Massacre Foundation) and National Park Service offices, along with Eads Senior Citizens Center. After more than 10 years of extensive restoration efforts, National Park Service moved into its space in April 2020, as work on the Senior Citizens Center concludes later in the year.
This unique partnership, creating gathering spaces for seniors and explorers at Sand Creek National Historic Site Research and Visitor Center, offers additional opportunity to revive a thriving center of small-town life in Eads and Kiowa County. Historic preservation on the 1300 block of Maine Street continues strengthening the community. Across the street from the Murdock Building is Crow Luther Event Center, including a rehabilitated historic theater district and the Nipps-Bransgrove building, just south of the Murdock Building, rehabilitated to house county offices.
Project Description
A labor-intensive process of more than a decade rehabilitated the historic structure, incorporating an energy-efficient design and creating a functional space with remaining historic fabric adding to the atmosphere. This work included; heaps of debris removed, asbestos abated, floor and roof structures replaced, foundations stabilized, brick repointed, windows repaired, storefronts replaced, public utilities, fire sprinklers and alarms established.
Project Partners
This distinctive project came to fruition through partnerships established and nurtured during the years. Funding provided through grants from State Historical Fund, Department of Local Affairs, National Park Service, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Kiowa County, in-kind from Colorado Preservation, Eads Chamber of Commerce, Kiowa County National Bank and Governor’s Energy Office.
(Page updated November 2020)