The history of Mogollon lives on at the Silver Creek Inn. This rare two-story adobe structure was built by Frank Lauderbaugh, circa 1885. It is now home base for your destination retreat.
The 5,000 square foot building was first known as the Mogollon House. Henry Johnson, the proprietor, rented upstairs rooms and sold food and merchandise on the Main Street floor.
The building changed hands in 1914 when James (J.P.) Holland, a barber from Philadelphia, bought into the booming mining town. J.P. opened his barbershop and the downstairs floor as a general store while renting rooms on the second floor. He spent a lifetime in Mogollon cutting hair and selling everything from lamp carbon to lingerie.
World War II steel and manpower shortage was the beginning of the end for Mogollon as a thriving mining town. The old man stayed through the war and watched the town’s inhabitants evaporate. In 1948 he left the old store to the ghosts and spent his remaining years in California.
The old building, with its leaking roof and archaic mud walls melting into Silver Creek, somehow survived until 1980 when Stan King arrived to renovate and restore the old adobe to its present condition.
History of Mogollon Photo Gallery
Modern History of Mogollon: Mother Nature Acts
Silver Creek left its banks the night of September 14, 2013 and caused historical changes to the town site of Mogollon. Silver Creek Inn survived the raging waters, however State Highway 159 leading to the town site was washed out.
Access to Mogollon and the Silver Creek Inn was fully restored when the New Mexico State Highway Dept. completed reconstruction of the Silver Creek and main street in 2017. Learn more about the history of Mogollon, New Mexico on Wikipedia.
