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Tom Ross

Tom Ross' column appears Tuesdays and Sundays in Steamboat Today. Contact him at 970-871-4205 or tross@SteamboatToday.com.

Steamboat Springs — You've admired Art Gumprecht's work all over Steamboat Springs. But you probably didn't know it.

If you've attended a wedding at St. Paul's Episcopal Church at Oak and Ninth streets, you know what Art is capable of. If you've stopped in to check out the artwork hanging on the wall of Wildhorse Gallery in the old Routt County Bank Building, you've probably taken notice of the unusually high ceilings. And if you've stopped in at F.M. Light and Sons to pull a couple of pairs of Wrangler jeans out of the custom wooden shelves, you might have noticed the little plaque bearing Gumprecht's name. He built the display cases for Steamboat's oldest retailer.

Maybe you live in one of the 1940s-era homes on Fourth Street that have flat roofs. If you do, you appreciate the care Gumprecht took with window sashes.

His work is even evident in the countryside surrounding Steamboat. If you stopped at the open house at the historic Mesa School on Tuesday night - yep, that's another Gumprecht.

Former City Councilwoman Arianthe Stettner made the case Friday that Gumprecht was Routt County's master builder throughout the first half of the 20th century.

Stettner is in her first of three years devoted to the pursuit of an advanced degree in historic preservation. She spoke about Gumprecht, and the detective work she has undertaken, during one of the brown-bag lectures at Tread of Pioneers Museum.

If you visit a structure built by Gumprecht, "you know the building is level, built in 1915," Stettner said. "You know the windows still go up and down. You know the building is square. You know that it has beautiful woodwork. One building after another, that was the consensus."

Gumprecht was born April 12, 1882, in Germany. He came to this country as a toddler, but the first record of his presence in Routt County pops up in 1910 while he was living and working in Hayden.

To record the dozen years that followed, Stettner has been able to put together pieces of Gumprecht's professional life from newspaper accounts.

"Colorado's historical newspapers are incredible on the Web, up until 1923 (when copyright laws became an issue)," Stettner said. "You can stay up late and get lost in the Steamboat Pilot, Oak Creek Times, Hayden Sentinel and Routt County Leader."

Gumprecht and his second wife, Mabel, married in 1915 and lived in a home on Yampa Street where the Cottonwood Grill building stands today.

"Their garden was written up every summer in the newspaper: 'Flowers, vegetables and not a weed in sight. It is an oasis of beauty and tranquility in the middle of town,'" Stettner said.

Gumprecht didn't just build wood-framed buildings. He collaborated with Carl Howelsen on buildings faced with quarried stone, and with Joel Anderson on buildings that used the native river cobble (see Anderson's work on the rear of the Cantina). Anderson and Gumprecht collaborated on the old fish hatchery on Yampa Street, a building that houses the Steamboat Yacht Club today.

Gumprecht's attention to detail in his finish carpentry was evident from the elegance of the building's interiors. And he did it all with hand tools.

He built bridges for the county and once built a fence of 10-foot cedar posts around the baseball diamond (probably to keep the elk out).

Stettner has learned from city records that Gumprecht, who died in 1959, served on City Council throughout the Great Depression.

However, that's not what he will be remembered for. If you want to carve out a little piece of immortality for yourself, strive to build buildings that will stand the test of time.