The Post Exchange Hotel or Armijo structure torn down to build Bottger Mansion?
later (1896) Sunnyside Inn, then (1920) San Felipe Club
excerpt from the
Albuquerque Tribune, Jan 6, 1958
Off the Beaten Path
By Howard Bryan
The Daily Citizen, on Feb 28, 1890, revealed some of the interesting history of an old adobe building in Old Town which still stands at 2025 Central NW, just south of the plaza.
This long structure with a portal had been serving as an Old Albuquerque Historical Society musem until it was damaged in a fire last year.
This building, according to the article, housed the most extensive commercial establishment in the Rio Grande Valley before the Civil War. The huge store was operated by the Armijo brothers, Rafael and Manuel.
When the Confederate Army occupied Albuquerque in 1862, the Armijo brothers placed all their supplies at the disposal of the invaders, supplies worth thousands of dollars.
The U.S. government conviscated the property in 1864 on grounds that the Armijo brothers had been "Southern sympathizeres," and the property was sold at public auction. The article said that the U.S. marshall who conducted the sale embezzled the proceeds from the sale and disappeared.
Later, the article continued, Dr. W.T. Strachan operated the structure as a hotel and stagecoach station. The building also was operated as a hotel by Thomas D. Post, John Brophy and a man named Lamb.
The newspaper added that the building was occupied in the 1860's by M.A. (Ash) Upson, pioneer New Mexico newspaperman who edited the Rio Abajo Press in Old Albuquerque. Upson later served as ghost writer for Pat Garret's book "The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid."
Other early occupants of the building, the article continued, included Don Martin Quintana, an early Bernalillo and Sandoval county sheriff, and Nicholas T. Armijo.
In 1890, when the article was published, the building was being used as a school.
Albuquerque Journal, June 12, 1960, p. B-9:
100-Year-Old San Felipe Hotel Razed;
Zoning Law Fails to Save Landmark
The Century-old San Felipe Hotel near Old Town is a pile of broken adobes and crumbling boards, probably because of legislative oversight by the City Commission.
The landmark, on Central, between San Pasquale and Rio Grande NW, which was a social center in Albuquerque during the Civil War, is being razed. The City's historic zoning ordinance doesn't forbid the demolition.
The building is owned by the Mildred Michelson estate. Saturday afternoon the administrator, Leonard Bell, said the building is being torn down because the city has classified it as a building hazard.
The city's historic zoning law requires all alterations and additions to buildings in the historic zone be approved by the zoning board. But it doesn't mention destruction or demolition.
Historians and some Old Town Plaza business men regard the demolition as "a tragic loss to the city."
The building was first erected in about 1858 or 1860 on the site of another inn. Its early history is a bit clouded but according to a report by Alan Minge, an Albuquerque historian the building may have served as a military post prior to the Civil War. It was a hotel in the early 1860's and also served as a
stage coach station.
"It is believed to have been visited by such notables as Kit Carson, Gen. Phil Sheridan and Gov. Lew Wallace, author of "Ben Hur," and many others," a recent report by Minge said.
The building was the site of the first Episcopal ordination of Albuquerque.
The first recorded transaction involving the building was in 1879, when Paula Montoya sold it to
Thomas D. Post, who operated it as the Post Exchange Hotel. It was during that year that Sheridan used it as his headquarters.
In 1880 when the Santa Fe Railway reached Albuquerque, emphasis shhifted from Old Town to New Town, another historian noted, and "its grandeur started to wane a bit."
Minge's report adds, "In 1893 Post died and
Mrs. Post leased the Post Exchange, when it became the Sunnyside Inn in 1896. Since then it has had a varied and sometimes shady career. Old Timers recall readily the gambling hall and liquor dispensary among other things. It was operated as the San Felipe Club in 1920 but went out of existence with repeal of prohibition."
Jack Michelson and associates estate acquired the building sometime after a Charles Bottiger operated the
Sunnyside Hotel.
It served as headquarters for the United Service Corp., a garbage service company, and in 1946 was rented and partially restored as a museum, shops and the Summerhouse Theater. In 1956 the roof was damaged by fire and it has been unoccupied since that time, Bell said Saturday.
There have been several suggestions that the building be purchased and renovated and perhaps used as a tourist attraction. But Bell said no one has approaced him with any proposals for the crumbling structure.
Bob Hooton, an Old Town merchant, commented, "It would have been expensive to salvage, but it was salvagable. "It is a tragic loss to the city."
The Daily Citizen, January 3, 1880 Advertisement:
“
SAN PEDRO STAGE LINE
THOMAS D. POST, PROPRIETOR
___
Will leave Monday and Friday mornings at 7
o'clock, starting from
Favor's store.
Faire to San Pedro, $8.30 “
The Daily Citizen, Feb 24?, 1882?:
“
Thos. D. Post is repairing and other-
wise improving the Exchange hotel, old
town, while Mrs. Musio, near by, is ar-
ranging her place for a summer resort.“
Excerpt from
file under “Families,“
Albuquerque Special Collections (Geneology) Library:
POST, THOMAS D.
born 1836 in Kansas
1875 bought John Brophy's Atlantic and Pacific hotel
1876-9 bought the old hotel in Albuq from Paula Montoya. This building had housed the Armijo Bros. store prior to the Civil war and formerly been operated by W.T. Strachen and stood just west of San Felipe N.W. between Central and the plaza. The hotel was called the Post Exchange.
1879 sold the Exchange hotel property to Nicholas Armijo and he built a new hotel on the part of the property formerly occupied by the qurtermaster's storehouse*.
*Note: On Sept. 20, 1866 Col. H.W. Enos forwarded to his superiors a ground plan of the commissary and quartermaster store rooms, Albuquerque, N.Mex. This building was 120 feet wide and 212 feet long. This size corresponds roughly to the Post Exchange building outlined by the Stanborn Map Co. issue of 1891 although the interior had been modified.--National Archives consolidated correspondence file of Record Group 92.