SAVED – Goodnight Barn

PUEBLO COUNTY

In 2002, the historic Goodnight Barn, located along the Arkansas River west of Pueblo, was placed on Colorado’s Most Endangered Places as it faced imminent threats to its survival. The City of Pueblo purchased the deteriorating building to avoid an acquisition offer from Texas Tech University who wanted to move it to where Charles Goodnight got his start in the cattle business. Since then, Goodnight Barn Preservation, Inc. and the City of Pueblo worked for over six years to restore the historic 1870 stone barn. Today the Goodnight Barn has been moved from endangered to saved thanks to the State Historical Fund, the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, the El Pomar, Gates, and Gersick Foundations, and local businesses and donors.

The Goodnight Barn was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Charles Goodnight built his barn of locally mined Codell sandstone and with lumber hauled from Wetmore, 25 miles west. This was quite a feat given that his cowhands did most of the work. The majority of stone and timber is original, and the barn is one of the most architecturally significant agricultural buildings in Colorado. The barn was once part of Goodnight’s Rock Canyon Ranch, established in 1868 as one of the oldest and largest cattle ranches in Colorado. The ranch was the northern headquarters for the Goodnight-Loving Cattle Trail, which helped pioneer the cattle ranching industry in Colorado.

Work began on the barn in August 2019 with HW Houston Construction, Inc. as the general contractor and Block by Block LLC doing all the restoration work. The west wall was scoped to be taken down and rebuilt to correct a lean of nearly 10 inches, but Bill Granda, the contractor proposed to pull the walls together with cables at a savings of $100,000. The savings allowed the project to re-align the south wall and completely repoint the building inside and out. Other work included concrete injections to stabilize the foundation, steel beams to stabilize the walls, a new concrete floor, a new wood shingle roof, interior and exterior lighting and electrical outlets, and exterior water and site improvements, including fencing and a parking lot. Today, Goodnight Barn Preservation, Inc. and the City of Pueblo look forward to offering a true Western Heritage experience when the barn is ready for visitors and events.