Town Unites to Save Historic Hotel-Saloon : Heritage: Residents pitched in to purchase the 100-year-old landmark for fear that it would be stripped of its antiques by an out-of-town buyer.

It’s the biggest anachronism in a whole downtown that looks like it’s trapped in time.

The historic Eklund Hotel and Saloon, with its turn-of-the-century architecture, solid rock walls and extravagant furnishings, persists as the centerpiece of this rustic ranching town tucked in the northeast corner of New Mexico.

For many of the 3,000 or so Clayton residents, however, the Eklund is more than a just a curious building that attracts tourists. To them, it represents the achievement of a community that banded together to save part of its heritage.

The Eklund, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this month, has had at least four owners since its incarnation in 1892. For several years, it has been a popular restaurant and saloon for townspeople and the tourist trade.

Earlier this year, when the Eklund went up for sale again, many residents feared out-of-town investors were planning to swoop into Clayton and strip the Eklund of its antiques, artwork and valuable liquor license for export to a bigger town.

“The last thing we wanted was to have one of the most important parts of Clayton cleaned out and then have everything trucked out of here,” said Nick Payton, editor of Clayton’s weekly newspaper. “We decided that we weren’t going to let that happen.”

Payton, who was born and raised in Clayton, voiced his concerns about the Eklund to Clayton residents and eventually formed an association of 17 investors. They pooled and borrowed enough money for a down payment and bought the Eklund in March.

“This place is our heritage,” Payton said. “Nobody wanted to lose this place because once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.”

He wouldn’t say how much the association paid for the Eklund but said many investors, including himself, had to dig deep into their bankbooks.

“We wanted this place so bad we staked our savings on it,” he said. “Believe me, if we wouldn’t have bought it, the Eklund would’ve ended up boarded up and forgotten.”

Payton says the possibility of getting a return on their investment is slim, but the association is doing everything it can to recapture the spirit of the once-regal establishment. On busy nights, many investors come in and help out.

But the investors’ first big step toward revitalization was luring a big-city restaurant manager to take over.

“I wasn’t sure about moving here at first,” said Mike Stanton, who managed restaurants in New Orleans and Dallas before arriving in Clayton. “But once I saw the Eklund, felt the history in these walls, I fell in love with the place right on the spot.”

It’s hard not to.

The place screams with history: mysterious bullet holes dot the ceiling, elegant stained-glass windows adorn the doorway and the heads of big game circle the dining rooms. There are even black and white photographs documenting the hanging of Black Jack Ketchum, a captured train robber who was executed in downtown Clayton.

“It’s a real classic environment,” Stanton said. “Instead of fabrication, this is authentic aesthetic appeal.”

Stanton said there’s talk of reopening the upper two floors, where the hotel rooms are located. It would take extensive reconstruction, he said, because each floor shared a community bathroom and light fixtures are almost nonexistent.

“There are 40 rooms up there now, but when we’re done rebuilding, I’d say we end up with about 20 because of additions and size constraints,” Stanton said. “But first we want to stabilize operations here at the restaurant and bar. The rooms will come later.”

Stanton said that if the rooms are reconstructed and the Eklund is returned to its old glory as a bona fide hotel, restaurant and saloon, the residents who invested could quickly pay off the mortgage and even turn a profit.

“We’re not even close to maximizing the potential of the Eklund,” Stanton said. “This place is a gold mine waiting to be discovered.”

The restaurant features New Mexican cuisine as well as steaks and other traditional dishes. Prices are moderate in comparison with other tourist attractions because Stanton says he doesn’t intend to isolate the local folks.

“Tourists are used to higher prices and we could probably get away with raising them a bit,” he said. “But then we’d be shutting out the people from here who love this place.

“The trade in here has always been 50% locals and 50% tourists and I think that’s a pretty good arrangement.”

Tourists who wander off U.S. 56 and into the Eklund are just as impressed as the hometown residents.

“This place is like something out of ‘Young Guns’ (a Western movie),” said Art Daniels of Terre Haute, Ind., who stopped in for a beer on his way to Oklahoma. “I didn’t think places like this still existed.”

It continues to exist in Clayton because some residents refused to let it fade. And Payton is proud at what he and his association accomplished.

“Rural America is dying because too many times we’ve depended on other people for help,” Payton said. “We’ve got to learn to defend ourselves if rural life is going to continue.”