Rio Grande Sun from Espanola, New Mexico • 21

Bl RIO GRANDE SUN, MARCH 3, 1983 jIJUJLiiUXj, Wild, Wooly G. W. Bond and Brother Turn-oj '-Century Storefront Several groups, including Escuelas Artisanas, the Espanola Valley Chamber of Commerce, Loom Weavers' Guild' and San Gabriel Historical Society, vied for space in the Bond House. On January 10, 1980, the mayor and city council granted a two year trial period to the San Gabriel Historical Society to establish a museum. The Bond House, however, still stood empty when, on March 6, 1980, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

VANDALS Vandals, in the meantime, were busy breaking windows, mirrors, and stealing brass fixtures and decor, although former city manager Robert Vigil managed to recover much of the valuable hardware. Restoration efforts, spearheaded by the Chamber of Commerce, began in earnest in November of 1981 and the following February, police officer Ted Lucero, wife Laura and family were given permission to move into the historic home on a rent-free basis. On March 7, 1982, the Bond House Museum and Cultural Center held its grand opening exhibiting works of 28 artists including Grace Medicine Flower, Michael Naranjo and Candy Chipman. Former governor Jerry Apodaca and reknowned Abiquiu artist Georgia O'Keeffe were among the many who attended the reception. Renovation work, said Midyette, still is needed, including weatherization, installation of a security system and revamping of the heating and cooling system and electrical wiring.

Restoration of the grounds and a gallery display system also is needed, said the architect. 11H KJ -k i By JOCELYN LIEU SUN Staff Writer If walls could speak the Bond House would tell a saga of riches to rags spanning nearly 100 years. The first adobe rooms of the historic building were constructed in 1887 by Frank Bond, a frontier businessman who moved from his native Quebec to build a merchandising and sheep empire in Northern New Mexico. In 1957, the Bond House was sold to the city and two years later, it was converted into Espanola's city hall. 1 The building in 1978 made the New Mexico State Register of cultural properties, only to be abandoned a year later after city staff moved quarters to the new city hall on the Chama Highway.

Several years of neglect and vandalism took their toll until, last winter, volunteers Cleaned, painted and repaired the home and converted it into the Bond House Museum and Cultural Center. Architect Frank Midyette, hired by the city to write a historic structural report for grant purposes, wrote that the Bond House founder, Frank Bond, followed his brother, George, to New Mexico in 1882 at the age of 19. Bond's first recollections of his longtime home were less than enthusiastic, "I recall the drive in the four-horse stage to Espanola," said Bond, "The driver quite picturesque in his blue shirt, broad-brim hat, with buckskin on the seat and knees of his trousers. The country seemed to me a perfect desert, and the people we met, with their few burro loads of wood and grain in tanned buffalo sacks, seemed so poor that I was by no means favorably-impressed with my new home." Bond also called Espanola, "A quiet town, comparatively to what it has been in the railroad building days, when it was really wild and wooly, having eighteen saloons (where men) drank and gambled." Two weeks after his arrival, Bond and his brother bought out a small mercantile Eighteen Drinking and Gambling store in Espanola then operated by Scott and Whitehead. It was called G.

W. Bond and Brother and was located where Peoples Dept. Store is today. It went through several name changes including Bond and Nohl and finally Bond-Willard when Emanuel Feder purchased it in 1957. The store catered to both townspeople and outlying farmers and ranchers.

A bunkhouse was provided for customers who came long distances to trade wool and chile for other goods. Wrote Midyette, "The store also housed the post office and express office, as well as the traditional woodstove around which the men gathered on winter evenings." In 1893, the Bond brothers expanded their empire by an initial $500 investment in sheep. Land acquisitions of the prospering brothers included Valle Grande in the Jemez Mountains which remained in the family until 1962. August 15, 1887, Frank Bond married May Anna Caffel, a native of Pueblo, and the couple began building their C3 If) Grande to stem flood danger and remedying health hazards such as mosquito-breeding pools and poor sanitation practices. Mrs.

Bond was noted as a meticulous housekeeper, whose; staff included Santa Clara Pueblo artist Pablita Velarde's father, Herman Velarde, who worked as a gardener. Poor health of daughter Maude Hazel and expansion of the Bond enterprises prompted the family to move to Albuquerque in 1926. Maude Hazel died in 1929, but not' before she had produced a son, Gordon, after marrying Lee Gordon McClain. Gordon was adopted by. the Bonds following Hazel's death and continued to run the Bond Company until its dissolution in 1961.

He died in 1976. A second daughter, Amy Mildred, married West Point General Pete Corlett. The couple had no children. The Bond's son, Richard Franklin, was the first child born in the Bond House. In 1929, he married Ethel Louise Moulton, who later sold the home to the city.

Mrs. May Anna Bond died in 1935 and her husband followed her on June 21, 1945 at the age of 82. After the Bond family moved to Albuquerque circa 1925, C. C. Titus, local bank president, occupied the residence until Jhe time of his TheBonds still summered and spent their Espanola retreat.

EARLY WORK Major work was done on the Bond House about 13 years after it was built, beginning in 1910. The Bonds built the northern addition and partial second story over it, using gabled ends, hipped dormer projections and connecting shed roofs to create an "eclectic Victorian appearance." Another change in the Bond House physique was caused by a kitchen fire which took place in the early 1930's. The old kitchen stove, as a result, fell through the floor into the basement and major smoke damage resulted to the rest of the The Bond House's columned porch originally overlooked a cottonwood and elm park which contained picnic tables, a small orchard and gazebo. Enclosing the park was a curving wrought iron fence then costing about $3,600. After the Bonds sold the Bond House to the city of Espanola it was agreed use of the park would be permitted if the city provided liability insurance.

SUBDIVIDED Wrote Midyette, "Evidently no agreement was reached on this issue, as the park land was sold for commercial use in 1959 to Emmanuel Feder, the owner of People's (originally a Bond who then subdivided the land (and) sold it off." The wrought iron fence was dismantled and part of it was sold to H. P. Freeman for approximately $1,100. The Bond House was sold to the city for at minimal interest by Mrs. Ethel Bond Huffman in 1957.

By 1958, the office of the city clerk, water department and other city functions were housed at the former Bond residence. Other notable points in the history of the Bond House included the shooting death of a burglar known as the Lavender Kid on April 23, 1958. The Kid, Dennis Archuleta, earned his nickname because of the lingering scent of lavender pommade he used to slick down Then-police chief Tom Gonzales and officer Levi Martinez answered a eall someone was breaking windows, at city, hall, spotted the Kid, called to him to stop and fired at the sight of an object in his right hand. Archuleta was declared dead where he wa felled on the Bond House spiral stairway. i STATE REGISTER On June 2, 1978, the Cultural Properties Review Committee of NewMexico State Historic Preservation Office voted to enter the Bond House on the state register of cultural properties.

One year later, on May 27, 1979, the new city hall on the Chama Highway was dedicated and in use, and, Midyette wrote, "for the first time in its colorful history, the Bond House was empty." I 0 0 "Sp" i Bond Store Interior in Early Days home, the Bond House, starting with a couple of adobe rooms. UNIQUE "It unique in appearance, as they did not follow the architectural conventions of their Spanish and Indian neighbors," wrote the architect. "Using native materials, they fabricated a home combining elements of the pueblo and territorial styles with Frank Bond's Canadian heritage, touches of midwestern elegance and some Colorado charm." The residence, noted the architect, was used as more of a summer home due to Mrs. Bond's strong attachment to Pueblo, Colorado. Although Bond was said to have abhorred politics, he showed his concern for the community by serving as chairman of Espanola school board.

1 RIO GRANDE In addition, Bond was active in raising funds for reinforcing the banks of the Rio r'-" -t-" w-' i inn mm Bond House Before Recent Remodeling.