C. S. Morey Mercantile Building - Denver, CO
Posted by: 
Outspoken1
N 39° 45.108 W 105° 00.069
13S E 499901 N 4400210
A series of plaques as part of a walking tour of lower downtown (original) Denver
Waymark Code: WM39VA
Location: Colorado, United States
Date Posted: 03/02/2008
Views: 61
This unique building is also the home of one of the best independent bookstores in Denver - The Tattered Cover, LoDo. The plaque on the side of the building reads:
C. S. Morey Mercantile Building
1896
At completion, this building was said to be the most elegantly appointed "business house" in the West. This was typical of a time when warehousers wanted prestigious buildings as they often combined storage and production with showrooms and corporate offices. The Morey Mercantile Building was considered by many to be one of the jewels of "Warehouse Row," as Wynkoop Street was often called.
Chester Stephen Morey came to Colorado in May 1872 to recover from what was probably tuberculosis. While recovering he started a cattle business in southern Colorado. In 1875, once again in good health, he established in Denver the sales headquarters of a Chicago-based wholesale grocery business: Sprague, Warner & Company. In 1884, Morey founded what became one of the largest mercantile businesses in the West at the turn of the century. As a Board of Education member, Morey was instrumental in the establishment of Manual High School, and in his honor, Morey Junior High School was named. He became heavily involved in the local sugar beet industry and after turning Morey Mercantile over to his son John, he became the president of Great Western Sugar Company. In 1937 the Morey Company bought out local rival J.S. Brown Mercantile, and in 1956 the Morey Company was sold.
Of special note is the double-wide alley off 16th Street. Many of the businesses had storefronts along the alley for retail sales, along with loading docks for easy access to railcars. Both railroad tracks and cobblestones are still visible in places. A short walkway bridged the second-story entrance to the 16th Street Viaduct. In 1994 renovation turned the building's first floor into the second retail location for the Tattered Cover Book Store, with the upper floors planned for expansion of the store as well as for rental living spaces.