He practiced law and lived there until 1886, when he moved to Buena Vista. In 1887, local store owner James Criss purchased the building. As St. Elmo’s mining fortunes began to decline, the Stark family began purchasing buildings around town in order to stave off their abandonment and collapse. Eventually the Cash Criss Building was donated to Historic St. Elmo and Chalk Creek Canyon Inc., who are now using an SHF grant to develop plans to restore and stabilize the building.  These plans represent the vital first step in preserving the building’s character-defining features as they appeared from the 1880s through the early 1900s.