Walsenburg 1890: The Rouse mine received a [railroad] carload of mules, but then had to have a platform built to unload them. 1896: The snowstorm on Tuesday was a disagreeable surprise to most people. 1902: Victor Mazzone and Mae Johnson were married and have gone to housekeeping in the Chatin building over Mr. Sanchez’s store. 1908: There are 457 pupils enrolled in the Walsenburg public schools and 48 in the county high. 1914: Why be a Kitchen drudge? All modern and up to date furnishings at A.S. McIntire’s. 1920: More than 100 couples were in attendance at the Retail Clerks Association dance Saturday night in Maccabee Hall. 1926: F.H. Unfug says he will build a new Chevrolet garage on his old site on West Sixth Street for more than $10,000 for a 35 by 112 foot brick structure. He has moved one of his old buildings to West Fifth Street. 1932: Melbourne Spector, Ernest Dissler, Margaret Cameron, Ruth Lansdown, Thelma Roundsley and Martha Sandor received free tickets to the Fox Valencia Theater for having the highest grades at Huerfano County High School. 1938: Destruction of civilization by “men from Mars” brought horror to radio listeners of Walsenburg Sunday night, and thousands of people throughout the nation were swept by hysteria by the “too real” broadcast of H.G. Wells, noted author. 1944: A Silver Star decoration for valor was presented to Estanislado Cortez of Gardner honoring his son Corporal Monico J. Cortez who was killed in action April 25 on the Anzio beachhead. 1950: County Superintendent of Schools Frances Nelson will go to Washington, DC, in December as a delegate to the Child Welfare Conference in the White House. 1956: On Youth Day when high school students fill in for officials and businessmen in Walsenburg, the World-Independent was published by JoElen Zgut, Arnold Repola, Geraldine Wilkins, Virginia Shrout and Andy Williams. The county commissioners were Jerry Conder, Lowell Goemmer and Ronald Spock. 1962: Mr. and Mrs. Jess Cannon, Walsenburg residents for 35 years, will celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary Sunday. They were married in 1912 in Aguilar and have two daughters and a son. 1968: The 107-piece Walsenburg High School marching band under the direction of Frank Montero marched their way to their seventh consecutive first place division trophy at Western State College’s Band Day in Gunnison. 1974: Walsenburg now has 110 low rent housing units built at a cost of $1,615,446.37, funded by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development. 1980: Black and White Grocery and Market has purchased the Pazar building now housing the Walsenburg Sheltered Workshop. John Pazar bought it from Fernando Serafini and ran the Modern Jewelry and Appliance Store. Serafini in turn had gotten it from the August Musso family in 1948 when it was Guaranty State Bank. 1986: Every Wednesday night is the free Taco Bar with $1.50 Giant Margaritas at Rio Cucharas Inn.
La Veta 1883: A.L. Prator, incumbent, will be a candidate on the Democratic ticket for re-election to the office of Road Overseer for this district. 1893: Charlie Clements and Ed Slawson have started a new Populist newspaper, the Silver Courier, in La Veta. 1898: I.R. Voorhees, whose carpenter’s shop is in the McCaskill building on West Francisco Street, has purchased the house behind the Baptist Church and will move it to his own lots west of his shop. 1904: Messrs. Allen and Webb gave a moving picture entertainment Thursday and though the pictures were fairly good, the light was not, and 35 cents for 90 minutes entertainment of this description seems somewhat high. 1910: R.L. Hammett has just completed building an 80 by 26 foot barn for W.H. Hamilton and will build one about the same size for F.C. Sager’s dairy business. 1916: There is to be a box social in the Sager school tonight. Every one is invited. 1922: A rain, followed by four inches of snow Saturday night settled the dust and helped out a little on the water situation. 1928: The La Veta high school basketball team went to Trinidad and won 12-0, so returned much elated. 1934: P.J. and John Nallon and Clark Falk did some prospecting on the Chaparal [sic] Sunday and discovered – – – fine scenery. 1940: La Veta’s new water system has been completed at a cost of $50,000. The town now has a capacity to store 80,000,000 gallons of water. 1946: Carrol Young was crowned football queen at the L Club dance Saturday night and Mary Cox and Donna Hayes were her attendants. 1952: Dedication ceremonies for Christ the King Catholic Church were held Sunday Oct. 26 with The Most Reverend Joseph C. Willging, bishop of the Pueblo diocese. The church was begun four years ago and has been used for the past three even though the interior was not finished. 1958: The La Veta Redskins won their sixth game of the season by defeating the Alamosa “B” team 13-7 with touchdowns by Loren Albright and Joe Viola. 1964: Bill Huffman has been transferred by the Denver and Rio Grande to the Durango shops and the only railroad employees still employed here are Kenneth Brown and Carlos Richman who are section hands. 1970: Cuchara received another snow fall this week so has recorded 52 inches already this fall. 1976: Annie Vigil celebrated her 88th birthday at the home of her daughter Molly Bailey. Nee Lopez, she married Emett Herrera who died leaving her with four small children so she filed on a homestead at Rattlesnake Buttes and farmed and ranched to support her family. 1982: Cuchara residents are proposing to incorporate their community and the county commissioners have set a public hearing for Dec. 6. 1988: Died, Dr. John O. Goemmer, DVM, in Arizona. He was born Feb. 9, 1911 in La Veta. He and his brother Adolph split the family ranching operations with Dr. Goemmer running Goemmer Land and Livestock with his son Lowell. He also leaves his wife Rose and two daughters, Joyce Smith and Renee Wachob.
