Gary and Wini Ledford, the owners and innkeepers of the Carr
Manor Boutique Hotel Bed and Breakfast of
Cripple
Creek, have
been residents of Cripple Creek since 2004.
Before moving to Colorado, they were living in Apple Valley,
California. Wini grew up in Apple Valley, where her family owned
one of the largest integrated turkey ranches in the western
United States. Her mother Francis Boynton Winkler moved to
Apple
Valley around 1919, and purchased a guest ranch, which she and
her husband operated for Hollywood notables. Along with her
Aunt Katherine Boynton, who also purchased the Yucca Loma Ranch
two miles away, the ranchers became very well
known in the early years. You can read more about the Boynton
Family of Cripple
Creek below.
The Ledfords had recently sold their development business in
Apple Valley, where they had developed a Master Planned
Retirement Community on Wini’s family ranch. When they first
moved here, they purchased a home that had been originally owned
by George and Emma Carr, who were some of the first discoverers of
Gold in
Cripple Creek. This house was a typical Victorian home.
They set out to renovate it, and found that with retirement they
needed something else to do.
On election day in 2003, the Mayor of
Cripple
Creek at the time told Gary of the
opportunity to acquire the old Cripple Creek High School. The
next day after meeting with the owner, a deal was struck and the
planning effort went into effect. The Ledfords had built eight model
homes in Apple Valley, so they had a significant head start as to how to
furnish the building.
In February 2004, the transaction closed on the Cripple Creek
Hotel that had been operated by the Heiliger family for nearly
20 years. They had renovated the east side of the building into
12 rooms. Over the time the rooms needed a full restoration and
the
Ledfords focused the first 106 days on taking the rooms to bare
walls and conducting a full restoration and renovation of all of
those rooms, transforming them into historic theme rooms and
fully modernizing them.
Finding a theme for the building was an easy task, as in 1905
Ralph Carr
graduated from the school. He made his mark in the history of
Colorado as its governor from 1939 to 1943. Read more about
Governor Carr in our reading room. Of interest is that Frank and Catherine
Boynton's son Carl also graduated from the school in 1905 with
Ralph Carr.
Up until this time Gary and Wini did not know the Boynton
history in
Cripple
Creek. As it turned out Winifield Scott
Boynton was the sheriff of El Paso County from 1894 to 1898.
During that time his brother Frank Boynton was his deputy; they
were also builders in
Cripple
Creek. Frank’s wife Catherine was
a local doctor. All of a sudden the Ledfords found that Wini
had historical roots in the City. With two Carr families and
Carr Avenue named after one – the logical conclusion for a name was “Carr
Manor”.
The Inn was opened on Memorial Day in 2004 and operated until
January 2, 2005, when it was closed for another five months for restoration
of the rest of the building. Most of the rest of the building was
in its original condition, so more extensive renovations and
rebuilding were required to bring it to the luxury boutique
hotel that you see today.
When you come to stay with us, you will also be greeted by
ourselves our gracious staff and Innkeepers who love this
historic building as much as we do. Our family’s primary
objective for all of our guests is to make them feel at home.
Boynton Family
Reading Room
|
