Gotthelf & Mayer Building, Saguache, Colorado USA Isaac Gotthelf (1844 1910), a Jewish immigrant from Germany who lived in New Mexico in 1859 before moving north to Colorado, established the first store in the Saguache vicinity in 1869. In 1873 75 in partnership with the famous Colorado road builder Otto Mears, Gotthelf operated the first mercantile business in the growing settlement. Gotthelf served in the first and second Colorado General Assemblies as a State Representative. In 1878 Gotthelf and Leopold Mayer, also a Jewish immigrant from Germany, formed the Gotthelf and Mayer Mercantile Company, which attracted business from as far as 150 miles distant and was one of the largest stores in southwestern Colorado. In this building constructed between 1886 and 1890, and in the associated 307 4th Street to the south, their business offered dry goods, groceries, meats, and a warehouse that stored products such as wool produced by local Latino sheep ranchers, as well as grain (mostly flour). A successor company, Gotthelf and [Charles] Tarbell Mercantile, occupied the building during 1901-19, offering general merchandise, hay, and grain. In 1918 the partners sold the building to Frank Ridgeway and Son, which also operated a general merchandise store here in 1920 49. Local resident Eddie Hazard acquired the building in 1967. Hazard and his wife, Helen, donated the property to Saguache County in 1973 in honor of his parents, with the stipulation that it maintain health services in the building. Saguache County Comprehensive Health Clinic opened in the facility the following year, with a pharmacy in the front and a medical office at the back of the building with room for a physician, dentist, child health nurse, mental health worker, and support staff. The clinic still occupies the building. From https://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/places/pdfs/14000433.pdf. Bob Rush Collection. yes yes