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Miller House
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Miller House
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First Visit
My first visit to Crested Butte was in 1957 when
Mom and Dad and I
and my two brothers visited
for a two week summer vacation after a long drive from our home in Maryland.
My Dad wanted Mom and his three sons to see where he had grown up,
in the 1930's.
For Dad it was his first trip back to Crested Butte since 1935.
Those intervening years Dad been with
C&H Sugar (in Hilo, Hawaii),
E. I. duPont (Charleston & Morgantown, West Virginia),
on the Manhattan Project in World War II (with duPont in Richland, Washington),
and after that with
the Atomic Energy Commission in Washington, D.C..
1935 was when Dad visited his parents and his four younger sisters (my four aunts) and when he stayed in the family home, the superintendent's home up on "big mine hill." My grandfather, E. Frank "Pop" Miller and his wife "Bebe" (as the family nicknamed her) had moved their entire family to Crested Butte in the early 1930's. Pop managed the CF&I Big Mine in Crested Butte through the first years of the Great Depression. As a mining technologist he accounted for most of modernizations that kept the Big Mine so highly productive all the way through and after World War II.
In 1957, after the Big Mine had been closed for several years and they had already pulled the rails of the narrow gauge D&RGW for scrap metal, Crested Butte had a population of about 50. Pretty much Elk Avenue was it! The main restaurant in town was Frank and Gal's -- it's the second building from the left in the picture -- which had been there at least since my Dad's childhood. And I remember well the big family dinner there that summer -- we five Millers plus Rudy and Emmy Sedmak and their daughter, MaryJo. The spaghetti really was very good. I think, also, it might perhaps have been the only thing on the menu. In any case, it was really good!
The 1960's And Beyond
The next time I was in Crested Butte was on my way from New Jersey
to California in a job change in 1969.
That August when I drove up
the dusty half-paved street called Elk Avenue
and parked in front of The Company Store
I found that The Tailings in the basement served beer and
I do remember
that beer -- it was a Coors, of course --
tasted pretty good on a hot afternoon.
That visit lasted about a week,
and of course by 1969 the Ski Area had opened,
and there was a lot going on in town.
Our family friend
Rudy Sedmak
connected me with a lady in Kansas
who wanted to sell her town lots
and I bought them with pretty much the last penny of my savings.
It was natural enough after all:
I'd grown up hearing about how wonderful
Crested Butte was and here was a chance to own a piece of it!
After many trips to Crested Butte to ski the following three winters, and just to visit in the summers, and after getting to know the town fairly very well I thought I might want to have some kind of foothold in Crested Butte. But it was not that easy. For example, to take a specific opportunity: after very careful thought I decided that while it was a nice offer that George Sibley made to me to purchase and run his Crested Butte Chronicle -- George wanted to sell because he wanted to write a book -- somehow that just wasn't going to work out for me if I was to continue my own technical work for the Government. So I had to opt out of that one. As it turned out Myles Arber, a friend of a friend of mine from New York, bought it and did a great job with it -- better than I ever would have! George did write the book, summering and wintering over in Gothic, and now he teaches at Western State in Gunnison.
Construction
Those visits were just enough time for Crested Butte to work its magic --
I was genuinely smitten.
The Savings and Loan in Gunnison found the money,
the contractor drew a quick 2-page sketch,
the town building inspector and zoning enforcer (and next-door neighbor)
Rudy Sedmak
nodded his OK and personally hammered in the stakes
setting out the building foundation,
and 624 Maroon was built
in the spring and summer and fall of 1972.
My parents were going to be there that Christmas and I know they were excited -- Dad especially so -- that the family after all those years finally "had a place" in Crested Butte. But it was not to be. Sadly, my Mother died unexpectedly in early November that year and even though the house was finished just days before Christmas, she never got to see it.
From then through 1993 we all visited Crested Butte two or three times a year. I ran some technical conferences and seminars there, and I got to know many of the townspeople. I especially enjoyed the time I spent with the "old timers" -- men who had worked for my grandfather at the mine (my grandfather died when I was barely 12 so I was finally getting to know him). They told a lot of stories about him, about the town, and about the tough times -- and probably some of there were true at least in part. But they all agreed that Pop was a good man, a fair man, a good manager, but that "...he couldn't hold his liquor," according at least to Tim Morgan [with several others corroborating].
The 1990's And Beyond
After twenty years as a part time rental unit,
and later with a full-time caretaker,
it was time for change.
My wife Rita supervised the remodeling in 1992-1993,
and the re-remodeling in 1998.
From the original dark-stained natural wood and dark drapes
and heavy fixtures,
the house became filled with bright light and open space --
in a Mediterannean/European style that emphasizes
simplicity, comfort, and flexibility.
After all, Crested Butte is at Latitude 38º North --
so it has the
the same sun angles as
Lisbon, Portugal,
Messina, Sicily,
and
San Francisco, California!
Rita and I and our daughters and sons-in-law and grandchildren have enjoyed staying at 624 Maroon fairly regularly. It is always relaxing and invigorating and entertaining to spend time in so enthralling a place.
We hope you enjoy your visit at 624 Maroon as well!
-- Edward & Rita
