Walsenburg
1885: County Superintendent of Schools R.A. Quillian is conducting the regular quarterly teachers’ exams. 1892: The new school house at Rouse has been completed and will open on the 22nd for regular classes. 1898: At a large and enthusiastic meeting a County Fair and Racing Association was organized with capital stock of $25,000 and 25,000 shares. The plans call for a harvest fair to be held in October each year, and horse racing will take place in May. 1903: The business men of Trinidad met and organized a business men’s association Tuesday. What’s the matter with the business men of Walsenburg? 1909: The Methodist ladies will give a chicken pie supper February 22 at the home of Mrs. Milson Phipps on East Sixth Street, opposite the Klein Hotel, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. 1915: Since the closing of the saloons, soft drinks are big business, with 18 stores selling these drinks on Seventh Street alone, with five of them being pool halls. 1920: The Bradford district people northwest of Gardner formally dedicated their new school with a dance. 1925: Dr. P.G. Mathews, city physician, says the death rate in Walsenburg for 1924 was reduced fifty percent by the use of chlorine in the water.
1930: Nineteen-year-old Linda George of Walsenburg has been selected Miss Colorado over contestants from 15 other cities and will go to the national contest in Miami Beach to represent this state. 1935: There were 346 live births registered in Huerfano County during 1934. 1940: On February 21 and 22, the Valencia Theater will abandon its usual Hollywood fare to present “The Fight for Peace” about the current world situation, in conjunction with Americanism Week February 19 through 24. 1945: The annual “Trail and Timberline” magazine has been released by the local members of the Colorado Mountain Club and is entirely about the Spanish Peaks region. 1951: Harry Bevsek and Frank Wilkins led the Taylor coal basketball team to its 10th straight victory, defeating Stavast’s of Pueblo 63-28. 1956: Reynolds Bellotti, son of Mr. and Mrs. Hector Bellotti and a 1942 graduate of St. Mary High School, has been named principal and superintendent of a new school district in California. 1963: The possibility of a new name for Walsenburg was discussed at the Huerfano County Chamber of Commerce meeting Tuesday when it was pointed out that the “burg” portion of the name gives a small town connotation to the community. 1968: George Habib of Habib Brothers Oil Company in Walsenburg was one of 50 Goodyear dealers from across the United States to attend the annual council and was elected as a go-between for dealers and management. 1973: Died, Maria Carmelita Bustos, 95, the last surviving child of eight born to Jesus Maria and Rita Manzanares. She was born July 4th, 1877 in Cucharas and married Juan Geronimo Bustos December 7, 1895. He died in 1956. She is survived by children Reynaldo, Felix, Julian, Celedon and Mrs. Joseph Britt. 1978: Harrington Office Machinery, offering repair services, has opened at 129 West Seventh Street. 1984: Irene Garbiso Archuleta will reopen Jari’s Café on Highway 10 beside the I-25 interchange as the new owner and manager. 1990: Ken Wadley and Hank Sheldon will open the Red Door Surplus this week at 608 Main with second hand tools and other used merchandise, while Susie Pineda will open the Gift Box at the corner of First Street and Walsen Avenue to offer second hand goods and collectibles. 1995: New owners of the Alamo building at Main and Sixth streets say they have remodeled and rented two offices on Main and the three on Sixth are undergoing massive cleaning and revitalization.
La Veta
1873: The congregation of the Spanish Peaks Baptist Church will observe its first anniversary February 23 and accept new members Charity Kerby, John Denton, Sarah Kimsey, William P. Erwin, Rachel and Forrest Erwin, William and Julia Kerby and William Clark. 1878: John Denton has been assigned to care for the smallpox patients in the pest house on the hill north of town. 1883: It may be useful to know that hoarseness can be relieved by taking a spoonful of egg white, thoroughly beaten, mixed with lemon juice and sugar. 1890: J.G. Hamilton of District No. 2 was elected chairman of the board of county commissioners. 1896: Everyone interested in Base Ball should be in the Band Room tonight to organize a town club. 1902: Edwin L. Smith has purchased the store building he now occupies from C.H. Bissell and will build an addition 30 feet to the west end for a grocery department and living rooms. 1907: John Stranger is supplying the local trade with his new Ojo Canon coal mine. 1913: Quincy A. Zimmerman has sold his ranch on Middle Creek to a J.E. Coe of Tercio for $4,500. 1918: The Elma B. Smith Entertainers – the ONLY imitators of Birds, Animals, Children – will be in La Veta Thursday, February 21 as the last of the Lyceum Course. Admission 50 cents. 1924: A packed house greeted the Argonaut Players last night in the Crystal Theater and enthusiastically received the performance. A dance followed. 1929: Ralph, son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Prator of Alamo, received the only striped sweater given at Colorado University in Boulder this year for football. 1934: About 20 members attended the Presbyterian Ladies Aid party where valentines and gifts were exchanged and games enjoyed. 1939: A group of 15 or 20 Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees have established a camp on Ryus Avenue just west of the bridge over the Cucharas to occupy while building barracks to house them during construction of the new ranger residence on Oak Street.
1944: Elected officers of the eighth grade class were Betty Moore, president, Kenneth Bailey, vice president, Lee Roy Snedden, secretary and Marie Pascoe, treasurer. The president was not present, having been absent all last week with a case of the measles. 1950: Mark Anderson has reopened the Conoco service station at the corner of Francisco and Main that has been closed since Fred Scholes gave up his lease several months ago. 1956: The Citizens and Peoples parties which have for years nominated candidates for town board through caucuses will in future have to choose them through a petition process to be on the ballot. 1963: A badly needed snowstorm last weekend left two feet of snow in La Veta and about 30 inches in Cuchara. 1969: S. Renee Goemmer, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. John Goemmer, exchanged wedding vows February 1 with William A. Wachob, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Wachob of Rye. 1974: Elected officers of Booster Club were Betty Gray, president, Joyce Lupton, vice president, Frances Magnino, secretary and Myrna Falk, treasurer. 1979: Dennis Murphy was appointed by town board to be president of the La Veta Tree Board, Lester Denton, vice president, and Margie Bradley, secretary. 1984: Jim and Karen Vietti will open their new restaurant a half mile south of Cuchara next week and will specialize in Italian cuisine. 1989: A young bull moose appeared and is making himself at home in the upper valley around the ski area.
