A History of Crawford & the Inn

A little history makes it more personal…

The Town of Crawford, CO:  Crawford is a unique place on the map - a town that takes pride in its humble cowtown heritage.  Crawford was born in the early 1880’s as a post office to serve local residents.  The post office was named “Crawford” as a nod to Captain George A. Crawford, a retired Indian fighter, who passed through the area in 1882.  The Captain suggested to one local resident that this would be a good place for a post office and town to serve the needs of the new and growing ranching community.  Some locals liked the idea, and the next year a post office was erected and was named after the Captain, who apparently never stayed a night in the Crawford Country. 

Crawford actually began “downhill” as a cluster of a few buildings in the Smith Fork River Valley, but migrated a quarter mile uphill when Mrs. Ong built her general store in 1892 (the white false front building next door).  With the center of commerce now established, homes and other businesses quickly rallied to the new town site. From its founding and into the decade of the 1940’s, Crawford served as a prosperous supply center for the surrounding area.  In the first half of the last century, this little town had its own bank, movie theatre/dance hall, pharmacy, blacksmith shop, two creameries, a cheese factory, billiard hall/saloon, dry goods store, general store, hotel, granary, newspaper, barbershop, light plant, furniture store, 3 gas stations, a jail, church, telephone exchange, community school, and even an ice cream parlor.  However, by the 1940’s gasoline powered vehicles were more reliable and more importantly, the road to larger towns (now highway 92) was paved, making it feasible to travel farther afield for supplies.  As a result, isolated Crawford suffered a slow and painful descent into near economic irrelevance. 

Crawford today is a different place than in its heyday, but echoes of the past still wash over the visitor.  The people of Crawford Country, whether natives or transplants, have a deep respect for the heritage of this special place.  The historic buildings still tell a story, and if you are lucky, you might experience a cattle drive through town.  A reminder that this is still a true cow town…

The Stone House Inn:  This substantial stone home was built in 1907 by Kenley and Sally Collins, and was styled after the traditional broad-front stone houses familiar in their native Virginia.  The Collins family homesteaded a ranch on Virginia Flats, an area seven miles southeast of Crawford, but decided to build this house as a winter home, so that their children might attend school in the colder months.  The Collins family, who also owned a blacksmith shop across the street (no longer standing), owned the home until the early 1940’s.  After another short-term owner, the home was sold to American Legion Post 190 in 1948.  The Legion used the home for their functions over the next thirty years.  Farm meetings, square dances, potluck dinners and many other functions took place over this period, as the house was a gathering center for the area.  (The downstairs front portion of the house was originally divided similarly to how it is now, although when the American Legion purchased it, they removed the dividing wall, so that a large meeting room could be had.   In renovating, we rebuilt the original dividing walls.)  An elderly local lady recalled upon seeing the renovation, “We used to have the best square dances here.  Two squares going in the main room and one out on the street.  I met my husband at a square dance here.  We first danced where that bed is now.”  A touching testimony to the personal historic value this home has to many local residents. 

Between the late 1970’s and 1982, the home was used as Crawford’s first official Town Hall.  A past Town Clerk told me, “We used to store all the Town records and ordinances in a bedroom upstairs”.  In 1982 the Town government moved to its present location at the old Crawford school on the main street, and the home was once again in private hands.  The house continued to fall into greater disrepair, as it was largely vacant until 1996 when the present owners purchased the “elegant ruin”.  Ceilings were falling in, plaster crumbling, roof leaking and walls covered in coal soot when the work began – and everything, absolutely everything, was painted a dingy mint green color…  After years of hard work, the home has been largely restored to what we would like to believe Kenley and Sally Collins would approve of.

If you would like to read some fascinating history of Crawford Country, I cannot strongly enough recommend that you purchase Mamie Ferrier’s wonderful set of local history books titled Long Horns and Short Tails.  The books are available at most Crawford retailers, and they make excellent reading while spending a relaxing afternoon on the porch swing.  We hope you enjoy your stay at the Stone House Inn.