This stereo view card, produced by Louie Palenske in 1880, shows the Davis and Raymond General Merchandise store, located on Main Street in Rico, Colorado. Palenske established his first photography business in Rico in the summer of 1880, operating from a "photography tent". In this view of Main Street from the southeast, a burro or donkey train is visible, "just unpacked" with supplies. The reverse of the card reads, "Colorado scenery, photographed by Louie Palenske, Rico, Colorado. Rico, the Queen City of Colorado, in the spring of 1879 was not known, but to-day, 1880, contains over 1500 houses and cabins, one large smelter now in operation, two saw mills, and is surrounded by the best carbonate silver mines in Colorado." Funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission through the Kansas State Historical Records Advisory Board.
Kansas Memory
Kansas Historical Society
Davis and Raymond General Merchandise, Rico, Colorado - front