If folks who lived in Salida even 50 years ago were to come back they would not recognize their town. That was also true when Salida celebrated its centennial year in 1980.

In a 1980 interview, Mervin Aude, a Salida native, described how things had changed since he was growing up, and that even included the mountains. Picture of The Angel of Shavano, for example, show she had a much more defined figure then than she had in 1980 or today. I guess like all of us we lose our shape with age!

               A parking lot that across from the Salida Fire Department on E Street was once occupied by a four story hotel known by three different names, depending on the owners at the time. It was The Rainbow Hotel, The Denton Hotel and the St. Claire Hotel. Back when Salida was a railroad center It opened for business in 1890 and was considered Salida’s finest hotel. With several passengers coming and going every day, the hotel was well occupied but when the numbers of people requiring overnight stay dwindled, the hotel was torn down in the early 1970s.

               The Monte Cristo Hotel, located in the railroad yards on the north side of the F Street Bridge, was another popular lodging place but more popular as an eatery and it’s said that the famous Monte Cristo sandwich originated there. The Monte Cristo was owned by the railroad and the exact date of construction is unknown but it is in photos taken as early as 1894. It was torn down in the 1940s to make room for the “new” art deco depot. The “new” depot which was Salida’s second depot, was torn down in 1985.

Several boarding houses also existed in Salida in the early days and the upstairs of many local business houses were rented to railroad workers mostly for overnight stays.

Another business that served railroad employees was Neil’s Cafe at 140 F Street. The café was originally called the Rio Grande Café, later the Shamrock Café and then Neils Café which was owned by Mae and Neil Prunty. Salida was a booming railroad town from the late 1890s up until about the 1950s and Neils Café received a subsidy from the railroad to keep the eatery open 24 hours a day to feed the railroad men. This was in the 1940s. One of the interesting things about Neil’s Café was the art work of Bill Blake, a 21 year old artist who came to Salida in 1945.He had been involved in a car theft and Neil met him at the sheriff’s office and learned there were mitigating circumstances in the car theft and also learned that Blake was a cartoonist. He hired Blake and in his spare time Blake drew cartoons of the employees and customers on the walls of the café.  That building is now occupied by Senor Murphys Candy and the cartoons are still on the wall. Among the characters are Julius Masetos, Salida’s police chief in 1945, Ace Hobbs who worked for a soap company, a girl named Cherokee from Oklahoma who was a waitress during World War II and Annabelle Furphy, a high school student and waitress.

               Blake lived in Salida about three years and then went to work at May D&F in Denver but his work lives on for Salidans and visitors to enjoy.

               Neil Prunty died in 1966. His wife, Mae, continued to operate the business until she retired at age 73. She passed away in 2000.