More preservation work completed at Painted Desert Trading Post

Volunteers recently completed more preservation work at the long-closed Painted Desert Trading Post site in eastern Arizona before winter sets in.

Based on Route 66 Coop member Mike Ward’s posts on the Route 66 Painted Desert Trading Post page on Facebook, here’s what the crew accomplished over several days:

• Installed new window frames so they could install metal screens to keep out crows and other potentially destructive animals. The screen was painted black to protect it and make it less visible.
• More patching and sealing on the trading post’s new roof, which was installed during an earlier work session.
• Installed new wood sheathing below holes of the windows. The new and old sheathing was painted white to make it look nicer.
• Securing the stucco on the external walls was secured to the sheathing, thus stabilizing it.
• Added bracing of the outside walls with short blocks added to existing studs to shore up the structure’s stabilization.
• Erected interior stud walls to match the trading post’s original walls to show how it was used as a retail location and residence. 
• Added plywood over two door openings on the structure’s east and west side.

Ward said more work will be done in the spring. He speculated after that, the Painted Desert Trading Post won’t need any more repairs for a while.

Volunteers reflected about their work and the historic site to videographer Movin’ Mark:

Judy Walker visited the site while the work was ongoing. The clip explains the owners’ living arrangements at the isolated business.

Since buying the site last year, the Route 66 Co-op in recent months has spent a lot of time repairing or shoring up the roof, bones and foundation of the trading post, saving it from imminent collapse and likely adding many years to its lifespan.

The organization last year received a $20,000 cost-share grant from the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program for the stabilization.

Dotch Windsor and his first wife, Alberta, opened the Painted Desert Trading Post along Route 66 during the early 1940s. Even along the Mother Road at the time, it was a remote outpost with no electricity or telephone service. Gravity pumps dispensed the fuel.

It closed in the late 1950s after being bypassed. The Painted Desert Trading Post, which sits about a mile north of Interstate 40, remains off-limits except for a locked but accessible gate.

(Image of the Painted Desert Trading Post on Oct. 18, 2019, by Shellee Graham via Route 66 Painted Desert Trading Post page on Facebook)