The earliest records show three saloons packed closely together along First Street here. By 1900 this building housed Louis Darass' saloon, and toward the middle of the block the third building was Joe & Anna Vergolio's bakery and general store. The Vergolios later moved to the Palace Hotel. By 1905 Ciriaco Rael had moved from Waldo to Cerrillos and occupied the middle building, where he opened a general store and meat market. Ciriaco's business soon expanded to include this building and a shoe repair shop. C. Rael's was a fixture in Cerrillos into the mid 1920s.