Walsenburg
1893: The school at Crestones [Chama] now has an enrollment of 85 and the teacher, J.M. Vigil, is being assisted by Tomas Maes.
1902: M. Aitake, Japanese, was killed by a fall of rock in the Walsen Mines. He was the first of his country men to be buried in Huerfano County.
1910: The Polish National Society No. 776 will give a dance Saturday night in Pisarczyk Hall on 7th Street.
1917: There are now 1,554 Red Cross members in Huerfano County.
1925: Forest Ranger Paul Gilbert found a gold placer field near Slide Mountain on Manzanares Creek southwest of Gardner.
1932: The teachers and Red Cross, with the aid of businessmen and women, served about 120 tiny children at the Seventh Street School Thursday with what will probably be the only Christmas dinner they will get.
1938: City teachers were paid their salaries a week early to provide additional Christmas vacation money.
1943: Arthur Treasure, 63, a native of Wales and county resident since 1928, was killed in the Calumet No. 2 mine at Delcarbon when crushed by a trip, leaving four sons and two daughters.
1950: The modern new Safeway Store at 6th and Albert streets will open with specials such as a one-pound can of salmon, 54¢, 5 packages of Jell-Well, 24¢, fresh roasted peanuts, 29¢ a pound.
1957: City Council unanimously passed an ordinance stripping the mayor of all his prerogatives to appoint committee members but Mayor Don Haney refused to sign it.
1963: Albert J. Tomsic, attorney and former speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives, was named Man of the Year by the Huerfano County Chamber of Commerce.
1968: Receiving 50-year pins from Naomi Chapter No. 14, Order of Eastern Star, were Mr. and Mrs. Walter Best, Ivy Unfug, Esther Jones, Faye Kirkpatrick and Mrs. George Niebuhr.
1974: The grade school and junior high band and choir will give a concert tonight in the Washington School auditorium under the direction of Ione Glumac and Mrs. John Geiger.
1981: Rev. Ramiro Ahedo-Cruz has completed his 1982 calendar of historic county churches and they are available for sale for $5.00.
1988: An early morning fire Dec. 14 completely destroyed The Agnes store in Gardner, originally built in the late 1800s as the Hudson-Ingraham Mercantile and sold to Nick and Bill Agnes in the late 1930s.
1994: Mayor Jay Crook says all city offices will close at noon on Friday, Dec. 23 and reopen Tuesday morning Dec. 27.
La Veta
1881: The first seven words of the sixth verse of the ninth chapter of Isaiah will explain the condition of affairs at our house since publishing the last edition of the Huerfano Herald.
1898: The Baptist Church has been re-shingled, the inside walls papered and the first deacon to fall asleep during services has to buy a new Brussels carpet.
1905: Mountain View Mining Company has a stamp mill three stories high and 60 feet long, a frame boardinghouse, two bunk houses and a blacksmith shop in Stearns Gulch about five miles from Placer on the old Denver and Rio Grande narrow gauge grade on the west side of La Veta Pass.
1912: Mrs. Springer has enlarged the bathroom at her hotel and now has about 30 rooms for the accommodation of travelers.
1919: J.E. Maes and his son have returned from the oil fields in Texas where skilled workers can earn as much as $14 per day.
1926: Elected officers of the Womens Relief Corps were Elnora Coe, Emma Ritter, Mary Foote, Fanny Dunbar, Effie Brown and Bertha Richman.
1933: Camp Netomachich Gatusi, Camp Fire Girls, now has 19 members with the addition of Edna Miller and Margaret Pickens.
1939: Elected officers of the La Veta Masonic Lodge were E.A. Stansbury, Edward Falk, James Ghiardi, George Holmes, George Pickens, Ellis Smith, Albert Jameson, W.H. Harrison and E.C. Stream.
1945: For the first time in four years, Christmas lighting is up on Main Street and Ryus Avenue, and Christmas trees have been set up on Main at Francisco and Ryus.
1953: The Redskins fell to Primero Friday night, losing the usually high scoring George Snedden to fouls in the third period and Bud Kreutzer to an injury in the fourth.
1960: Members of the Snowy Range 4-H Club will pick up discarded Christmas trees after the holidays as part of their soil conservation program.
1969: Thirty-five Rotary members and their wives had their Christmas banquet Tuesday night, prepared by members of the Patience Circle women’s club of the Methodist Church.
1975: The eighth annual Christmas Eve candlelight service in the Cuchara Chapel will be Dec. 24 beginning at 6:30 p.m.
1981: Panadero Ski Resort is open! A 14-inch man made base was laid last Sunday and the area received 20 to 30 inches of new powder Monday night, making 100 percent of the terrain skiable.
1987: Some 30 to 40 people of Huerfano and Las Animas counties attended the Highway 12 task force dinner and meeting at The Timbers.
