Walsenburg
1862: Norton W. Welton, new county assessor, finds the taxable valuation in Huerfano County to be $88,849.50.
1877: There is some talk about moving the Las Animas County seat from Trinidad to El Moro, but it is all bosh. It will not be attempted as the effort will cost more money than the projectors can command.
1882: Contractor George McLaren has just burned a kiln of first class brick and will in future keep it on hand at his lumberyard.
1889: The new town board raised the salary of the town marshal to $85 and adjusted the attorney fees from $5 to $2 for police court prosecutions.
1897: Three young ladies make up the first graduating class of the Huerfano County High School. They are Mary Campbell, Jessie Snedden and Maud Wycoff.
1902: There will be Easter services in the Catholic chapels at Cucharas, Crestones, Chavez Plaza and Turkey Creek, and in North Veta, and the same will be held in a private home.
1907: 117 East Fifth Street is the address of the Walsenburg World office.
1912: The railroad engineers are surveying for the tracks to the new Murphy mine near Solar, west of town.
1917: Joe Tadurine married Normi Santi, both of Toltec. [translation – Joe Ladurini married Noemi Santi].
1922: Fred C. Sporleder was elected vice president of the Guaranty State Bank.
1927: Edward Race of Cameron school has won the Colorado State Spelling Contest with a prefect score.
1932: The former bathhouse at Walsen mine has been sold and will be moved to Red Camp to be rebuilt into a church.
1937: Walsenburg’s new, and first, Democratic city council appointed Ralph Levy chief of police and Albert Garcia and Ray Williams, night patrolmen.
1942: Huerfano County High School will close early, on May 16, so students can go to work to help solve the labor shortage caused by the war.
1947: Since Consolidated Publishing was reorganized January 1, the World-Independent publisher has been James Madison.
1952: Charlie Romero and Bill Ugolini combined their pitching talents yesterday at the Knights of Columbus field and recorded the first no-hit no-run game of the season as the Crusaders swamped the La Veta Redskins 25-0.
1957: Public school students in District No. 4, Walsenburg, will attend classes on Saturdays for the rest of the term to make up for the three days they missed during the blizzard.
1962: Frank Piazza, owner and operator of the Fox Theater in Walsenburg, says he intends to build a drive-in theater along Highway 160 west of the Martin Lake recreation area this year.
1967: Retail sales in Huerfano County during 1966 rose by nearly one million dollars above 1965, with 91 percent of sales made in Walsenburg. Total county sales last year were $9,331,000 compared to $8,414,000 in 1965.
1972: A building permit for $30,000 was pulled last month by Fred Powers, doing business as Candle Light Inn, for a remodel of he old Dissler building at the corner of Seventh Street and Main. Powers also took a $2,500 permit to remodel Kay’s Motel, 340 West Seventh.
1977: The Walsenburg Volunteer Firemen’s wives will have a bake sale for the benefit of Bernie Atencio Jr. for his trip to Romania. Atencio has been selected to represent the United States in the World Games for the Deaf as a member of the wrestling team.
1982: The wild CO 2 well which blew March 18 at Atlantic Richfield’s Sheep Mountain project was finally capped Saturday after some 100 employees from various agencies tried to stop the flow.
1987: The county commissioners received a complaint from City Council member Anna Gasparetti who objected to the Economic Development Revolving Fund’s loan of $123,000 to Baker Communications’ KSPK radio station. They also denied a service plan for the proposed Sangre de Cristo Water and Sanitation District to be developed east of Walsenburg.
1992: Benita Pineda’s 80th birthday celebration included a special mass and a reception and dance in the evening in the Walsenburg Community Center with the Armijo Brothers band. About 200 people were in attendance, including many out-of-town relatives and friends.
La Veta
1881: S.L. Strange purchased John W. Brown’s hay ranch three miles east of town for $700, and Andrew Francisco sold his transfer business to C.S. Lewis and will move to his ranch four miles east of La Veta.
1886: The newly elected town officials were officially sworn in and voted to hold their regular monthly meetings in the town clerk and recorder’s office.
1891: Sam Todd was appointed police magistrate.
1896: One of the worst sand and wind storms of the season occurred last Thursday, strewing tree tops over the mesas from unknown stumps and a yellow dog is said to have been blown here from the San Luis Valley.
1901: Several new Easter hats were in evidence Sunday but the bliss of warm weather was of short duration and winter wraps were in favor the rest of the week.
1906: Died, Mrs. O.D. (Harriet) Staplin, 68, after several operations for cancer. She was born in New York and she and O.D. spent several years in Chicago before coming to Colorado in 1879.
1911: Jake Marker is entirely over his attack of rheumatism after bathing and drinking the mineral waters at the Sulphur Springs for 10 days.
1916: Harry Springer is remodeling the old schoolhouse on Virginia Street into a modern home with five rooms, a bath, closet, etc., and a large front porch.
1921: Tom Huesties is again driving the wagon delivering goods for E.L. Smith’s grocery and general merchandise store.
1926: The Daughters of the American Revolution is interested in preserving the status of the old Francisco Plaza and will put up a metal tablet with the date of the plaza’s erection, mounted on a hard native stone, to be placed on the site of the old well in the plaza center.
1931: Will Owens tells us he has been in Huerfano County 44 years as of April 4 with his wife and son John. Ye editor had arrived just four months earlier.
1936: William and Levi Kincaid bought out the other heirs and now are sole owners of the Kincaid ranch and cattle.
1941: Neil Brown sells Sinclair products at his La Veta Service Station at the corner of Oak Street and Ryus.
1946: Fred Wagner was named town marshal. Again.
1951: Mildred Geiser was elected president by 17 members of L Club when they met last week. Dorothy Bowdino was elected vice president, Julia Lively, secretary and Anna Falk, treasurer.
1956: The first annual Square Dance Jamboree sponsored by the La Veta Chamber of Commerce and Lightning S. Guest Ranch will be tomorrow night in the high school with Marvin Shilling calling.
1961: Died, Matt Arch, 78, who came to La Veta in the early 1920s and later operated a confectionery store where the “shoe repair is now”. He leaves two daughters, Lenore Atchison and Harriet who married Nelson Webster.
1966: Representing La Veta in the county spelling contest for the sixth grade will be Irene Duzenack, Brett Arnold and Mitzi Masinton; for the fifth grade, Michael Anders, Raymond Aguirre and David Shrout; and for the fourth, Elizabeth Pene, Rodney Falk and April Cross.
1971: Dedication ceremonies for La Veta High School’s two new buildings will be at 7 p.m. April 22. Costing $109,000, the buildings include three classrooms and a shop, and will be dedicated to Evalyn Capps Walker for her 23 years of devotion to the children as a member of the school board.
1976: La Veta’s Rainbow Girls had a benefit chili supper this week for the Boxwell family which recently lost its home on the hill west of town to fire.
1981: At the annual Future Farmers of America (FFA) Banquet the Star Greenhand award to outstanding freshman went to Tom Murphy, and the Star Chapter Farmers were Dave Andreatta and Troy Mayfield. Kim Budd won the Leadership and Scholarship awards.
1986: Azada Casper moved into her “new” home, known locally as the old Hector place north of the railroad tracks.
1991: Grandote Golf and Country Club officially opened yesterday, April 12, for the season. Memberships are $500 a year per person, or $750 for couples, and greens fees are $30 for 18 holes.
1995: Grandote Golf and County Club opens for the season tomorrow for its 10th season. Memberships are $750 for singles and $1,000 for couples. Greens fees are $30 for 18 holes Monday through Thursday and $45 for Friday through Sunday.
