Gunnison History Tracker
228 Elk Avenue
McGill's
This building appears on the 1893 Sanborn map as a two-story furniture store. On the 1898 and 1904 maps, the building is
shown as housing a two-story dry goods and clothing store. In 1910, the building, in basically the same configuration as
today, housed a saloon. According to George Sibley, C.J. Diel, owner of the Elk Mountain House, a director of the Crested
Butte Bank, and a large property holder in town, had the building erected after the fire of 1893. In 1898, a dry goods and
clothing store operated from the building. These businesses were still present in 1904. In 1910, a saloon was operating
in the building. During the early years of the building, the Masons used part of the upstairs for their meeting hall. In
the 1910s, Diel sold the building to Mike Fisher, Sr., who operated a general merchandise store. Fisher also had a beer
hall in an adjacent building that is no longer standing. After the Masons moved out of the upstairs, Fisher operated a
small bottling plant for soda pop which he sold to local dance halls. According to Eleanor Stefanic, Fisher also had a
butcher shop here and on one side a cider bar where women and children sipped cider and on the other side was a bar. John
Byouk purchased the building from Fisher and operated a general store known as "Byouk Sibley's". Note that during
strikes or times of little work, Byouk extended credit to his customers. Byouk was from Yugoslavia and married Fanny
Ver whose father, Martin Verzuh, had operated a general store. The Byouks operated their store in this building for
thirteen years, until selling the business to Tony and Eleanor Stefanic in 1945. The Byouks then moved to California. In
January 1946, the Stefanics opened their general store in this building. and Operated it continuously until 8 December 1985.
The Stefanics offered everything from soup to nuts. The store closed due to Tony Stefanie's ill health, but the couple
continued to live upstairs until 1989. In the 1970s, this was one of only two groceries in town.
Eleanor Stefanic
