Rico preserves historic landmarks that shaped its mining-town identity

On August 8, 1995, the Board of Trustees of the Town of Rico held a public hearing before adopting Ordinance No. 300, the measure that designated the town's first local historic landmarks. The town adopted its historic-landmark ordinance after a survey and public hearing because leaders judged its buildings and structures essential to Rico's cultural, aesthetic and economic future. That choice now shapes demolition risk, tourism, repair work and the future of the former courthouse block.

Why Rico made preservation a policy

Ordinance No. 300 came out of a survey of historic buildings and structures, and it treated preservation as a town function tied directly to Rico's long-term standing.

Rico's system also sits inside the wider American preservation framework created by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, which built the National Register program and the state-federal network that supports historic protection. Local landmark designation gives the strongest protection against demolition or alteration.

The landmarks that define the town

Rico's designated landmarks form a map of the town's working life. The list includes the Atlantic Cable Headframe, the Van Winkle Mine Headframe, the Rio Grande Southern Water Tank, the Rico Town Hall and former Dolores County Courthouse building, the post office, the fire station, two churches, the Dey Building, the State Bank Building, the Burley Building, the Rohde Inn and the Rico Mercantile.

The headframes and water tank point to the mining and railroad economy that built Rico, while the courthouse, post office, fire station, churches and storefronts show the town becoming a civic center rather than just a camp.

A short walk through Rico's history

• The Rio Grande Southern Water Tank gives the quickest lesson in how Rico was connected to the rest of the region. It was an important water stop along the Rio Grande Southern Railroad route, and the Library of Congress documentation dates its initial construction to after 1880 and before 1900, with later work in 1952. The surviving wooden tank is the kind of railroad structure that once served towns across the American West from the 1880s through the 1920s.

• The Atlantic Cable Headframe and the Van Winkle Mine Headframe carry the mining story above street level. In 2003, Rico Historical Society volunteers worked with private property owners to protect the Rio Grande Southern water tower, the Atlantic Cable Headframe and the Van Winkle Headframe and Hoist House from demolition. Those properties were placed in a historic preservation and conservation easement under Colorado law, then restored, stabilized, fenced and marked with signage.

• The former county courthouse, the post office, the fire station, the churches and the commercial buildings give Rico its downtown shape. They are the places where mining wealth turned into local government, mail service, worship, banking, lodging and trade.

What the rules mean for owners and development

For property owners, the ordinance creates a clear line around what kind of change Rico wants. A local landmark system can slow demolition, narrow the path for major alterations and push investment toward repair rather than replacement.

The town's 2020 census population was 288, and Western Mining History puts its current population at about 200, with an elevation of 8,825 feet.

The most recent reuse projects show how that works in practice. In 2025, the Rico Historical Society partnered with the Town of Rico and the Presbytery of Western Colorado to acquire the Rico Community Church after it had not held Sunday services for more than three years. The society sold the historic Engel House to help finance the purchase. The church is planned to operate as a community center by the town, and the Mantz building is intended for affordable housing for town employees as needed.

Why Rico still reads like a boomtown

It was settled in 1879 as a silver-mining center in the Pioneer Mining District, when access was still difficult and supplies came over the mountains from the Rockwood railroad station via the Scotch Creek Toll Road. The Rio Grande Southern Railroad reached Rico in 1891, linking Durango and Ridgway and tightening the town's connection to regional markets.

By 1892, Rico had nearly 5,000 residents, 23 saloons, two churches, two newspapers, a bank, a theater, a boarding house, a mercantile, a brick county courthouse and a three-block red-light district.