Durango: As I Remember It

by Gerry Gardenswartz   (2001)

As far as I know, the Aaron Gardenswartz family was one of the first Jewish families in the area, plus a small number of German-Jewish merchants in Silverton and Pagosa.  Aaron and Hannah cattle-ranched on the Pine River in Bayfield circa 1890's.  They had six children.  Morris (my grandfather), four daughters and a younger son, Izzie, who married a Durango lady.

Morris and Mary Cook Gardenswartz were also Pine River cattle people.  They had four children, Sam, Buster (my father), Betty and Harold.  Harold is 84 and has been an Albuquerque resident since 1937.  Sam left a sizeable stipend to the Abuquerque Jewish community, which resulted in the newly completed Ronald Gardenswartz Jewish Community Center of Greater Albuquerque.

Buster and Sam started the Gardenswartz Brothers Sporting Goods Store in 1928 where the Main Mall now stands.  Sam moved to Alamosa several years later and subsequently moved to Albuquerque where he owned the Pepsi Cola Bottling Company.  Betty married and lived in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Here is a funny aside.  Early on in the business, the post office delivered a letter to "Jew Brothers" Sporting Goods.

Buster and Hazel had three children:  Jerry (the author of this history), Stanley (who is married to my wife, Lorraine's sister), and Judy.  We were all born at Mercy Hospital.  Buster was a non-political high- profile downtown personality, bouncing up and down Main Avenue at all times.  There is a memorial plaque on the West side of the Ninth Street Bridge in my parents' honor.  The family moved to Denver in 1945 with Buster traveling back and forth to Durango.

My wife and I returned to Durango from Denver in 1983.

During the early years, many cattle people from Denver cruised through the area and were welcome guests at the Morris Gardenswartz ranch.  Jacob Samuels, Wolff and Louis Karsh, whose daughter, Helen, married Lorraine's maternal uncle.  Small world!  In addition, there were many Jewish traveling salesmen constantly coming and going through the area.

 

OTHER REMEMBERED PRE-WAR PERSONALITIES:

Nate Stein:  His father had a dry goods store where Durango Music is now located.  Nate subsequently had a clothing store where Stuart's now stands.  According to a rumor, Nate won the Chief Diner at 22nd Street and Main Avenue in a high-stakes poker game.  The blue-eyed Indian sign across from Toh-Atin gallery originally stood at this location.  The arm moved up and down.
Louise Stein: No relation to Nate.  Owned a ladies ready-to-wear store where Pennington Camera is.  She wore coke-bottle thick glasses.
Ed Levy: A sanitary supply salesman.  He wore an ill-fitting red wig which looked like a dust mop.  He had a wonderful fishing cabin on the Florida River.
Leonard Glaser: Leonard was in the insurance, real estate and liquor business next to the Buzz House.  He married Billie Taylor of the original Raymond-Taylor people.  They had a sizeable horse ranch on the Florida River.  Now, under water due to Lemon Dam.
Rudy & Fran Susman: Managed the Gordon Department Store where Brown's Shoe is located.  As a small kid, they paid me a penny for every five straight pins I could find on the floor.  Big Money!
Gilbert & Mary Gordon: Fran Susman's younger brother.  They operated a bakery where the Main Mall now stands.  Had two children.
Dr. Joe & Mildred Koplowitz: He came from a Rabbinical Baltimore family.  He was an excellent opthamologist who originally came here to treat Native Americans for eye diseases.  He was a cantankerous man and only visited his patients at Mercy early mornings or late evenings to avoid interfacing with other doctors and staff.  He left a large estate to Israel and other Jewish charities.
Jake & Fanny Aronoff:  Tailors on Eighth Street between Main Avenue and the alley.  Fanny was a mail-order bride from Russia.  Jake was an avid baseball fan and could always be found in the bleachers at the diamond where First National Bank is now built.
Isaac Kruschke: A German-Jewish dry goods merchant from Silverton.  Built the Gardenswartz building at Ninth and Main in 1883.  His wife was a charter member of the Reading Club of Durango, one of the oldest reading clubs in the state.  These civic ladies started the Durango Public Library.  Their former home is the turreted grey house on the Northwest corner of Florida Road at 3rd Avenue (also know as Kamakazi Corner).  The Gardenswartz Building is listed on the national Register of Historical Places.
Abe & Pearl Geggenberg: He was a mailman on the Durango to Alamosa Narrow Gauge Line which has since been abandoned excepted for the Chama-Toltec portion.  He had flaming red hair and a cloned son, Jay.
Harold Marks:  An English Jew who lived in the back of the store with us.  He nannied me and my brother.  There is a picture of him standing in the front of the store with a pile of dead deer and elk.  Ask to see it in the office loft.
Sam Wittow Family:  Another dry-goods merchant from Silverton whose distant relative was Lord Mayor of Dublin, Ireland.  He was a charter member of Electra Lake Sporting Club.  His oldest son, Milton, married Lorraine's paternal Aunt Ann.  Another small-world happenstance.
Dave and Rose Primock:  Owned and operated the Durango Furniture Company where Chelsea's Pub is located.  Rose was a refined Southern lady from Savannah.  She was socially popular with all the grande dames on Third Avenue.
Spots Goodman:  From Denver.  He owned a traveling carnival and was always good for free tickets.  He was anxiously awaited each year.  The setup was at the present First National Bank location.
Otto Mears: A Russian Jew known as the Pathfinder of the San Juans due to founding the numerous toll roads in Silverton, Ouray and Rico.  His portrait is in the rotunda of the State Capital.
Jew Fanny:  A Silverton Madame.  There is a historical plaque on a restaurant building in Silverton, as you get off the train and turn left.  She came over to the house occasionally for corned beef sandwiches.  Anything else is hearsay.
The Hersch Family:  Early Pagosa Springs German-Jewish grocery people.  The Hersh Building at 453 Main Street is dated 1889.
The Goodman Family: Early Pagosa Springs German-Jewish family.  The store is still located on Main Street.