Lemke Meat Market

he one-story building at 2516 West Main Street in downtown Littleton was built in the late 1920s or early 1930s. Information at the Littleton Historical Museum indicates it was originally a laundry. In 1938 Rudolph Lemcke purchased the building. Lemcke was already a fixture on Main Street, having served Littleton's meat market needs from several different locations since 1922. When he bought the one-story building at 2516 West Main, he and C.L. and Louis Moore were leasing 2510 West Main, next door east. There they shared the west storefront of the two-story Kauer building that sits at the southwest corner of Main and Nevada streets. They operated as C.L. Moore Grocery and Lemcke Meat Market, while the east storefront of the two-story building was occupied by Service Drug.

Lemcke apparently bought the adjacent one-story building as an investment and rented it out. In 1940 or 1941 he added a frozen food locker to the rear of the one-story building. He moved Lemcke's Meat Market to its final location in the one-story building at 2516 West Main in May 1966 and remained there for eighteen more years. About 1968 he remodeled the front facade and installed a more modern red stone "brick" that was mortared between the original brick columns. Other than that, the building is essentially in its original form.

Two Potters, 1997.

The original "Two Potters" moved into 2510 West Main, in the west side of the two-story Kauer building in the fall of 1967. They were Macy Dorf and Larry Wright. They conducted their pottery manufacturing and sales business there until 1971, and were followed by Sara Molyneaux who continued to use the Two Potters name. In 1984, after the close of Lemcke's Market at 2516 West Main, Molyneaux purchased the Lemcke building and expanded her pottery studio into it, thus occupying two storefronts.

The Two Potters in 2004 are Franklin and Susan Gray who purchased the Lemcke building in 1990 and moved their handmade pottery business to downtown Littleton. They, too, occupy the storefronts at both 2510 and 2516 West Main Street. The subject of this article is, however, the part of the shop which was the Lemcke Meat Market--the one-story building at 2516 West Main.

The Grays were the first downtown property owners to apply to the Colorado Historical Society and the City of Littleton for matching grant money for historic preservation work. They wanted to improve the Lemcke building facade with fresh paint and a new sign.

The building first had to receive the City's landmark designation. It qualified because of its part in the context of Main Street and of that particular block, as well as its historical use as an institution significant to a way of life that was important in the history of Littleton. People still came into Two Potters and reminisced about how their parents had regularly visited Lemcke's Meat Market. It had been part of a Main Street where people participated in daily shopping, going to movies, or buying a car.

Mr. Gray remarked that it might be considered a rather nondescript building, but that it was indicative of the West, where people built what worked at the time and didn't use a lot of frills. It was functionally oriented and had important strength. Museum Director Robert McQuarie said that it was a good, solid building, not in the highest category of architectural value, but that it had proven itself to be a good building and a good business. It was designated an historical landmark in 1993, and soon afterward the Grays were granted matching funds for the new sign.

In the interior decor they used memorabilia from the meat market, such as chopping blocks, signs, and meat racks and hooks. Outside the entrance they erected a handsome three-dimensional hanging sign in character with the style that was commonly found on Main Street at the time the building was constructed. It features the mark of their trade: three handmade pots.

Bibliography

Dorf, Macy. Littleton, CO. Interview, July 20, 1997.

Gray, Franklin., Littleton, CO., Iterviews, July 1997 and January 26, 2001.

Littleton (Colo.) Independent. Littleton Independent Publishers, 1888-

Littleton Historical Museum. Biography/Place Name Files.

Littleton Historical Museum. "City Boards and Programs: Historical Preservation Board. Two Potters, 2516 West Main Street." Littleton, Colo.: The Museum, 1993.

Littleton Historical Museum. "Littleton Historical Building Survey (Main Street.) (Notebook.) Two Potters, 2516 West Main Street." Littleton, Colo.: The Museum, 1992.

Simmons, R. Laurie and Thomas H. Simmons. "Historic Buildings Survey, Littleton, Colorado, Littleton Townsite of 1890." Survey Forms. Three volumes. Denver: Front Range Research Associates, Inc. 1997, 1998.

Photographs courtesy of the Littleton Historical Museum, unless otherwise noted; to order copies, contact the Museum at 303-795-3950.

Compiled by Doris Farmer Hulse

Updated January 2004