RGC Museum hosts opening ceremony for Barlow and Sanderson Office

DEL NORTE - After almost two years, the historic Barlow and Sanderson Stage Office has been fully restored and is now open to the public. In a ribbon cutting ceremony on Saturday, June 21, the Rio Grande County Museum welcomed the public to help mark this special occasion. 

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RGC Museum hosts opening ceremony for Barlow and Sanderson Office

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DEL NORTE - After almost two years, the historic Barlow and Sanderson Stage Office has been fully restored and is now open to the public. In a ribbon cutting ceremony on Saturday, June 21, the Rio Grande County Museum welcomed the public to help mark this special occasion. 

“We are here to celebrate and welcome home the 1875 Barlow and Sanderson Stage Office. This building once stood on the streets of a frontier town that was merely three years old and welcomed some of the most cherished characters from our past. People like Albert Pheiffer, James Cary French, Billy Leroy and his brother Sam Potter as well as countless relatives of those who call this place home, walked through this door. This stage office was the first place to welcome their hopes and dreams, and we are pleased to now give it a home, for filling a dream of own and giving it a place it will be cared for and cherished for years to come,” said Rio Grande County Museum Director Lyndsie Ferrell. 

Work began in 2022 to restore the dilapidated building thanks to the efforts of local historian Suzanne Off and resident Patty Kelley. “I was down in Silver City, N.M., and I was at a museum there in the visitor center where they had a cabin that was staged like this. I thought it was just so cool, and so I reached out to Suzanne and the Town of Del Norte, and we started raising money,” said Kelley. 

It wasn’t long before the two reached out to the Rio Grande County Museum and asked for help with fundraising. The museum was more than happy to aid in the fundraising efforts and to offer a location where the cabin could be moved so that it could be cared for. 

“We knew that the cabin couldn’t stay in the Del Norte Town Park, so we made plans to move it behind the museum where it could be continuously cared for. It was our honor to be able to help with a dream of restoring the cabin,” said Ferrell. 

In 2024, Matt Espinosa and Karie Lichtenfeld, owners of Creek Water Construction, were asked to help with restoration efforts, and it was then that all the plans began to fall into place. “We have been so thrilled to be a part of this project. Matt is very passionate about this type of work and had a special connection to this particular building so we were more than happy to help; even if I was hesitant at first but I also knew that I just needed to trust Matt and he did an amazing job,” said Lichtenfeld.  

The exhibit was staged by Rio Grande County Museum Assistant Director Kathy Ellithorpe, who brought the past into the present and made the stage office come back to life. The museum would also like to thank the Gently Loved Thrift Store who helped provide some of the artifacts placed in the stage office so that authentic artifacts could remain safe inside the museum.  

The entire Del Norte community and many from around the San Luis Valley helped in this project whether by donating time, materials or funding. A huge thanks goes out to all of the donors including Del Norte Bank, the Del Norte Public Library, the Windsor Hotel, Del Norte Public Works, Rio Grande County, Rio Grande County Road and Bridge, David Colville, the Rio Grande County Museum 501c3 and so many more. “To each and every person who played an integral role in making this dream become a reality, we thank you.”  

In addition to the opening of the Barlow and Sanderson Stage Office, the museum also opened their living history landscaping exhibit featuring local plants that have been used for centuries by the first Indigenous peoples to the first Spanish settlers and even now.  

The project was completed by North River Greenhouse and Landscaping out of Alamosa with the help of countless volunteers and by the direction of Rio Grande County Museum Board Secretary and Master Gardener Ruthanne Johnson. 

“This museum has been a very special part of the San Luis Valley community since 1986 and thanks to the people who forged the foundations on which we are able to build, we also give our thanks,” said Ferrell. 

The museum is open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information and to stay up to date on events please visit www.riograndecountymuseum.org.