The decades-old country store at Helen’s Corner in the mountains northeast of Durango might seem remote. But its location at the intersection of Florida Road (County Road 240) and County Road 243 has given it a front-row seat to some of the area’s most historic moments.
Now an idea is stirring: Helen’s Corner could be a candidate for La Plata County’s next historic designation.
La Plata County has 16 sites with historic designations, a process that requires commission review and a resolution passed by county commissioners. In 2010, county officials surveyed Helen’s Store and 99 other potential historic register sites.
Some community members see a historic designation for the store, itself; others, the intersection.
“Everybody and their brother knows where Helen’s Corner is,” said Les Mignerey, 76, who has been visiting the area since he was 14. “That’s the important thing we’re trying to focus on.”
However, the whole idea requires the owner’s permission, and the owners are planning to sell.
“It would depend on the (designation’s) limitations ... to see if we’re not allowed to do anything more with the property,” said Nicole Hutchins, co-owner of the old store and a nearby business, Helen’s Country Liquor Store.
A historic designation does not limit what owners can do with their property, said Ruth Lambert, a member of the Historic Preservation Review Commission, which approves applications for commissioner consideration.
The designation comes with a plaque and a resolution from the county. It could also improve a location’s eligibility for restoration grants. But it does not require any maintenance by the owners or the county.
The owners have not yet had any interested buyers. Nor have people asked them for permission to apply for a historic designation.
Still, the Hutchinses, like other locals, have always considered the property to be historic because of its central role in community life.
“Helen’s was extremely active because there were lots and lots of visitors,” Mignerey said.
In the 1890s, Helen Burkett’s parents bought land at the intersection from a local cowboy for $1,000 with a $1 down payment, said Jeff Sonheim, 63, a longtime resident above Lemon Reservoir. The price equals about $29,000 adjusted for inflation.
The store’s business, with a sawmill behind it, rose and fell with the lumber economy. Construction workers gathered for drinks while building the Vallecito Dam in the late 1930s and the Lemon Dam in the 1960s. For a while, it was the longest continuous Coors vendor in Colorado before the property sold in 2006, Sonheim said.
During the Missionary Ridge Fire in 2002, Helen’s Store became command central for the firefighting response. In some years, hundreds of sheep would pass by as ranchers drove them out of high country grazing areas. In 1996, thousands of cyclists whirred by during the Ride the Rockies tour.
“This is the most people I’ve ever had in my yard,” Burkett told The Denver Post as cyclists rolled through.
The store’s central role in the area’s history and its status as a local landmark could help it earn a historic designation, said Lambert, a local historian.
“We have our history. ... It’s not like the history of any other place,” she said. “We really should preserve that to the extent that we can.”
Burkett, who owned the store for 67 years and died in 2003, was a local figure in the area’s history.
When Burkett opened the corner store in 1936, she was a single mother with three children during the Great Depression. It was after her house burned, and she had only a sewing machine to her name, Sonheim said.
Burkett, who was feeding cows until age 87, didn’t have time for people who didn’t work hard. Community members who knew her called her “feisty” with a rebellious streak.
Sonheim lived on the property and knew Burkett well. When he considered the historic designation, he considered what she would want.
“She’d say, ‘I don’t give a rat’s ass either way,’” Sonheim said. “But I think in her honor, I definitely want to try to get this done.”
smullane@durangoherald.com
