Striving to save Vail landmark

But the siblings said they'd like help in their effort to restore Vail's oldest building and preserve the place that once served as the heart and soul of the community.

Since it was built — sometime in the late 1890s, the Kelleys reckon — the now-crumbling structure has served as the community's railroad freight station, post office and general store and, for a while after their dad bought it in 1975, a feed store.

The building has sat unused since Art Kelley built a new feed store in 1994 next door, at 11366 S. Old Vail Road.

All the while, the old building was more than a place of business: "It was the center of Old Vail," Chauncey Kelley said.

That's what makes the building historic, said Roger Anyon, a cultural resources program manager with the Pima County Cultural Resources and Historic Preservation Office.

"This building is well worth saving and restoring because it is the focal point of Old Vail, and because it's so close to the Shrine of Santa Rita," Anyon said, referring to the Catholic church across the road.

Kelley said that's why he and his sister want to convert the building into a place that celebrates the area's history, like a visitor center. "A place where people could stop and find out about the town or Colossal Cave or other attractions," he said.

And they wouldn't mind some feedback, and some help, to make that happen.

"We'd like people to look at it as a 'we' kind of thing, rather than something (that) 'they' are doing," Kelley said.

He and Patty have been making steady progress in their four-year effort to restore the building. After reviewing documents that support the building's history, the county Cultural Resources and Historic Preservation Office staff will forward them to the State Historic Preservation Office.

"The building and the Shrine of Santa Rita church both have been determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places," Anyon said.

The state office will review the documents to determine whether to recommend listing the buildings on the National Register of Historic Places to the National Park Service, An-yon said.

The county office helped the Kelleys get a $2,000 grant from the Tucson-Pima County Historical Commission to help stabilize the building while those deliberations are under way, he said.

The county Board of Supervisors last month gave a boost to the Kelleys' efforts when its members abandoned "a sliver" of right-of-way along Colossal Cave Road, where the building stands very close to the road. That will allow the building to be protected when the county begins work on widening the road, which will be realigned to curve around the building.

Annabelle Quihuis, a county Transportation Department spokeswoman, said a project to widen a half-mile mile of Colossal Cave Road from Acacia Elementary School to Old Vail Road is scheduled for 2012.

But the Kelleys now have a more immediate concern: stabilizing the structure long enough to get community support — especially financial help — to restore the building.

"It's going to fall over if we don't do anything," Kelley said. "I don't think it's going to last but maybe a few more years unless we fix it."

Anyon agrees. An assessment conducted by the county "identified major structural problems with the building," he said.

That concern was heightened last week, when the contractor the Kelleys had intended to hire to stabilize the structure told them he can't get to the job until fall, at the earliest.

Anyon said his office is helping the Kelleys find another adobe contractor who can restore the structure in a historically accurate way — which is necessary to remain eligible for listing on the register of historic places.

Meanwhile, it's important to at least stabilize the structure — and soon, he said.

"It would be nice to see it stabilized before the monsoon season starts," Anyon said.

But much more money will be needed to restore the building, he said — about $240,000, according to Kelley.

He could build another building for less than half that amount, he said. But Kelley said he'd prefer to restore the original building — and preserve the history that has taken place in and around it.

This building is well worth saving and restoring because it is the focal point of Old Vail, and because it's so close to the Shrine of Santa Rita.

If you would like to help

● To aid Chauncey and Patty Kelley in preserving the old adobe building, contact them at 762-5301.