Moffat Tunnel lease approved; Gilpin officials continue pressure for train stop in Rollinsville

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Central oﬀers nearly “free” home to anyone who

little yellow house. It features

two floors of living space, and

local folklore claims it dates

back to before the Great Cen-

tral City Fire of 1874.

It could be the ideal fixer-

upper for the right person or

couple. The problem is the

home can’t remain where

it’s been resting for at least

a dozen years. Some resi-

dents claim the building is an

eyesore that gives Central City

Parkway drivers a poor first

impression of their commu-

nity.

Some would argue the his-

toric home isn’t Central City’s

version of The Little House on

the Prairie. It’s probably more

like “The little house on the

No matter what people call

or consider the house, Central

City would like someone to

buy the house – at a bargain

price of perhaps just $1.

Naturally, there is a catch.

If you buy the home from

its owner, Central City, you

must also pay to haul it off.

That could be expensive – a

cost estimated at a minimum

of $15,000, depending on the

distance someone wishes to

relocate it.

“That price to move it is

something close to what I

remember,” Central City Man-

ager Daniel Miera said, not-

ing, “although I’ve never seen

a formal quote on that price.

That’s what someone told me

but that’s been so long since

then. If you’re getting it for

a dollar, the cost also is to

haul it away. However, I don’t

know if that’s still the going

rate [to move it]. Who knows?

Maybe there’s an opportunity

to do it for less. It could be

The nearly unbelievable

giveaway price doesn’t esti-

mate how much someone will

be required to pay to remodel

and upgrade the building

with “modern conveniences,”

such as indoor plumbing and

electricity.

The slowly deteriorating

yellow house sports a now-ag-

ing sign welcoming people to

Central City. It’s been on the

rock pile – the site of a former

Superfund clean-up project

– for more than a decade.

Plenty of people in town have

complained the old home has

worn out its welcome and its

deteriorating exterior no lon-

ger conveys a warm, welcom-

ing message to visitors.

Miera said the yellow house

has been called the Rickman

House since before he began

working for the city in 2014.

Originally, the home was built

on Pine Street but was moved

during the 1990s after legal-

ized gaming arrived. “It was

there – atop the rocks – when

I started working here,” he

recalled.

The original move some-

time in the 1990s occurred

so GF Gaming, which owns

the Famous Bonanza Casino,

could build a parking lot

behind the top level of their

building, the back entrance of

which is on Pine Street. “As

I understand it, that was one

of the homes that was moved

from Pine Street to allow for

the development of the (ca-

sino) parking lot,” said Miera.

“It was given to the city and

moved atop the mine-tailings

area [along Nevada Street].

It was kind of moved around

Agency.

gan decades ago to deal with

heavy metals and contami-

nated soil left behind from

mining.

Miera said the city had tried

unsuccessfully to unload the

house several times. “We

have tried to get rid of it. In

the past, there have been at

least a couple of times when

people were interested in it.

However, we only had one

serious “buyer” who lived up

in the Spring Street area. They

wanted to move it there next

to their home and turn it into

a workshop. That fell through

for whatever the reasons

Commented the manager,

“We’re still interested in try-

ing to find a new home for it,

and then somebody could fix

it up. Maybe somebody could

move it to a place where they

have some property.”

The price could be the

most enticing thing about the

yellow home. The last time

Central City had a prospec-

tive buyer for the building,

they were willing to sell it for

a dollar. Yes, as in a buck, four

quarters, ten dimes… you get

the picture.

Miera said he doesn’t

consider the yellow building

to be a “homeless home” or

a home without a permanent

place. “I’d say it’s a home full

of opportunity and it has the

potential to one day house a

family. That’s how we look

at it,” he commented with a

chuckle.

Serious inquiries about

the empty little home can be

made at city hall, 141 Nevada

Street, about a stone’s throw

down the hill from the avail-

able yellow building. Office

hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Monday through Thursday,

while phone inquiries can

be made by calling 303-582-

5251.

Central City is hoping somebody wants to buy the historic little yellow home on the

Nevada Street rock pile and move it to a new location.

Drone photo by Don Ireland

Moffat Tunnel lease approved; Gilpin officials continue pressure for train stop in Rollinsville

Patrick Henry Sweeney

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