Hutchinson Homestead Ranch

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Visit our Tour Destination: Colorado page to see the entire tour of the state’s Save America’s Treasures sites.

The original ranch house, known as the Main House, at
Hutchinson Homestead Ranch.
Photo courtesy Hutchinson Homestead Ranch.

Hutchinson HomesteadRanch and Learning Center

Highway 50

Chaffee County, CO

Website:  Salida-Area Parks, Open-Space and Trails

Friends of the Hutchinson Homestead

The Treasure:  The Hutchinson Homestead Ranch will preserve a representative high-altitude ranching operation depicting Coloradofrontier life of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Accessibility:  The site is available to tour by appointment only (call 719-539-9656 or e-mail grether at amigo.net) while restoration work at the site continues. Along with the historic preservation activity, a visitor center is under construction.

Background:  (Katy Grether, Hutchinson Homestead Project Leader, has supplied such a fine summary of the site that I’ve decided to reproduce it here verbatim. Thank you, Katy!)

Outbuildings at the Hutchinson Homestead Ranch.
Photo courtesy Hutchinson Homestead Ranch.

The Hutchinson Homestead typifies the history of ranching in the high valleys of Colorado. It tells the whole story—from the 1860’s to the present—on one ranch, in a very accessible location on U.S. Highway 50 within the five miles that separate Poncha Springs from Salida. Luckily for us living 140 years later, the Hutchinson family built a homestead to last, and one with a sense of architectural charm that made it a welcoming place for the nomadic Utes, pioneers, and cowhands, and earned it a place on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

Perhaps the earliest frame house built of milled lumber in the Upper Arkansas River Valley, the Hutchinson Homestead stands on the north side of Highway 50, surrounded by its corrals and outbuildings. The Hutchinson Homestead was one of the first ranches in what was then wide open, unfenced frontier. The towns of Poncha Springs and Salida did not exist when Dr. Hutchinson’s great grandparents settled here. The welcoming old house exhibits an unusually refined architectural style for the period, rising two stories and graced with Carpenter Gothic bargeboard on the front gable.

The Hutchinson Homestead is still a place that draws the interest and curiosity of the passerby. Locals and heritage tourists will have the chance to step back into ranching history at this premier attraction on the Collegiate Peaks Scenic and Historic Byway. The transformation of the Homestead into a ranching museum and learning center is acknowledged by many in our community to be the perfect culmination of a century of being at the heart and hub of a great Arkansas Valley Centennial Ranch. Fourth generation rancher, Dr. Wendell Hutchinson, now 86 years old, has donated 2.25 acres containing the Homestead and all of the historic outbuildings to the neighboring Town of Poncha Springs so the site can be enjoyed by the public for generations to come.

View from a corral.
Photo courtesy Hutchinson Homestead Ranch.

Preservation History:  Before restoration began in 2005, the 1870’s Homestead and outbuildings, none of which had foundations, were in such a state of weakness that they were nominated to the Colorado List of Endangered Places in 2003. Now, after two phases of restoration funded primarily by state preservation funds, the Main Homestead House has a new foundation and is completely restored on the exterior. All ten outbuildings are stabilized and completely rehabilitated.

Ongoing restoration work at the Main House.
Photo courtesy Hutchinson Homestead Ranch.

The third and final phase of preservation work is in progress, thanks to generous grants from the Colorado History State Historical Fund and the Save America’s Treasuresprogram. The site is coming to life and, as people enter the ranch yard, they will experience what frontier life was like a century ago. The interior of the Homestead is being restored with period wallpaper and linoleum. Lilacs, apple and willow trees that have been on the ranch since the late 1800’s are being pruned and grafts taken, a myriad of fences and corrals are being rehabilitated, and visitor pathways are being installed to create a meaningful experience for heritage tourists.

Other Recommended Sites:  The highways of ChaffeeCounty have been designated as the Collegiate Peaks Scenic and Historic Byway (a Coloradobyway). The website Collegiate Peaks Scenic Byway provides a helpful guide to the historic, natural, and scenic sites of the county. The county is known for the highest concentration of 14,000-foot peaks in the United States, many ghost towns and historic structures, the scenic Arkansas River, numerous commercially developed hot springs, and vibrant artistic communities.

Corral and outbuildings at Hutchinson Homestead Ranch.
Photo courtesy Hutchinson Homestead Ranch.

Tour America's History Itinerary

Monday’s destination:  Crow Canyon Archaeological Center
Friday’s destination:  Clyfford Still Museum

© 2012 Lee Price