The lot upon which the Parker Garage sits was once part of the original Littleton Creamery facility at Parker. The creamery was built in 1897 on property donated by George Parker. It was one of many milk separation stations built adjoining railroad lines up and down the Front Range and east into Kansas and Nebraska. The purpose of the facility was to separate the butterfat in milk from the whole milk, and then ship the cream into Denver to be made into butter. At the time of the plant’s construction, the home separator had not found its way into use in the common farm home. The Littleton Creamery went out of business in 1912, and the property was sold, first to the Beatrice Creamery Co., and then a short time later to Royal (Roy) J. Woodbury of Parker.

 

Roy refurbished the creamery building into a comfortable home in which he lived for a time. He and two cousins, Walter & Marvin Davis of Evergreen had a brick garage and gas station constructed on an unused part of the creamery property. The gasoline pumps used were Bowser Red Sentry pre-visible curbside units.

 

Sometime between February of 1916 and March of 1917, the town's Ford distributorship passed from local bankers Fred Hood and Harold Senter to the garage. From 1919 through 1920 the business was run by J.A. Watson. From 1921 through 1922, Bon McBreen and Art Crater had an interest in the garage. During 1923, Art Crater held the proprietorship with a man named Hudson. Then from 1924 until he sold the business to Simon Flierl in late 1928, Art Crater was the sole proprietor. Simon operated the business from the time of purchase until he became tired of labor shortages due to the war and sold the business to the Ryan Bros. in 1944.

 

The building has had a history of destructive fires. The first was in December of 1923 when a fire started in the workshop and badly damaged a car belonging to T.K. Tiedman. On April 3, 1928, the garage burned to the ground with several vehicles and a tractor inside. The building was rebuilt by the Charles O’Brien Construction Company, using plans similar to the original building, except that the windows were of a different, more modern style.

 

Through the years the building has had many uses, including that of a feed store, an auction house, and an electronics and western wear store. It is currently a restaurant and lounge. The building once again experienced fire during the time it was an electronics and western wear store, and again in 1988 when it had become the Warhorse Inn. Both times it was rebuilt. Some 15 years later, the building was expanded to the east, and is still being used as a restaurant. In 2014, the building underwent a historically conscious restoration and a new restaurant, aptly called The Parker Garage, is being operated there.

 

This building has been landmarked by the Town of Parker.

 

Information for this brief obtained from the personal files of Larry T. Smith, various articles from Record Journal, and A Guide to Historic Sites in the Parker Area by F B. McLaughlin.

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