The Pueblo Lore

The Pueblo Lore, ISSN 0741-6598, is published monthly by the Pueblo County Historical Society and is provided as a benefit to members of the Society.

Single copies can be purchased for $5.00 each
Copies for members $2.50. 

Editor: Thomas Perkins

Designer: Niki Summers, 252-1201
(maddddog3@gmail.com)

Check Out the January, 2020 Lore

It’s a new year and another opportunity to join the Pueblo County Historical Society in order to receive a mailed copy of The Pueblo Lore, the Society’s monthly magazine, documenting the history of Pueblo County and the area. There are always interesting historical articles published every month.

• We are beginning a new series about Puebloan Elmer Campbell, co-owner of the Crow Store that served residents in the Rye/Colorado City area. The series, written by Cheryl Huban, is based on a recorded interview of Campbell, research and anecdotes from his family. He served in WW I in an article featured in the November 2018 Lore, celebrating Veterans’ Day.
• Pueblo had many bands and nightclubs in the early forties. Enjoy the ads gleaned from a 1941-42 collection of Pueblo Chieftains obtained by Lisa Wheeler, a former Lore member, now living in Denver, who has her own music blog. The narrative explaining the nightclubs was co-written by Jerry Miller.
• The January 9th dinner meeting of the Historical Society at the Pueblo Union Depot will feature a program presented by the Beulah Heritage Preservation League on the relocation and renovation of the historic Peter K. Dotson cabin on the 3R Ranch. Dotson was one of the three early pioneers, including Charles Goodnight, who bought a third of the Nolan Land Grant. Before the program, you can read about the Simonson family leasing the 3R in 1894 and living in that same cabin. The author, Edna Simonson Roper, has a remarkable memory of her childhood on the ranch.
• The historic neighborhood referred to as the “Blocks” or (Corona Park) overlooking the Arkansas River, the Pueblo Union Depot and the railroad yards is the focus of an article by Jerry Miller. Jerry grew up in Corona Park and recalls his early experiences and those of fellow PCHS historian John Korber who grew up there in the 1930s. All the street names were originally in Spanish as named by General William Palmer’s father-in-law. It was supposed to be a park, but Palmer ran out of money and sold building lots for a housing development.
• Lore writer Michael Hudson explores another historic pioneer, Thomas O. Boggs, who founded Boggsville in Bent County, southeast of Las Animas. Boggs worked for the Bents and married into the family. Boggsville was the county seat for a short time and Boggs was the first sheriff of Bent County.

Check Out the December 2019 Lore

One important reason to join the Pueblo County Historical Society is to receive a mailed copy of The Pueblo Lore, the Society’s monthly magazine documenting the history of Pueblo County and the area. There are always interesting historical articles published every month.

• The three-part series on the Lamar Bank robbery concludes with the execution of three of the four robbers and the apprehension and subsequent death of Jake Fleagle, captured in Branson, Missouri. Read the author’s conclusions and opinions about the trial.
• Reprinted is George Williams’ recollection of December 7, 1941, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. His memory of hearing the news on his dad’s pickup radio hearkens back to a simpler, more innocent time in America.
• Read the WPA transcription of Pueblo businessman George L. Gann as he reflects back on his early days in Pueblo as a young pioneer from Missouri. He was a contemporary of the Thatcher brothers and purchased the historic home of Wynn Barndollar who was murdered in front of his home across from Mineral Palace Park.
• Read about the kidnapping of the daughter of Lucien B. Maxwell of land grant fame by a band of Apaches and her subsequent capture by a band of Utes. There is a bloody battle between the two tribes on Grape Creek in Fremont County. It does not end well.
• The CF&I recruited emigres from many foreign countries to work in the coal mines and the steel mill. Victoria Miller of the Steel Works Center identifies the tremendous diversity of the work force. There were 32 nationalities speaking 27 different languages in the early 1900s.
• Michael Hudson writes about pioneer rancher John Prowers of Bent County who established Hereford cattle in the Lower Arkansas Valley. He worked with William Bent at Bent’s Fort and married Amache, daughter of a Cheyenne chief killed at the Sand Creek Massacre. When Bent county was divided into two counties, Prowers County was named after him.

Author’s Instructions for Submitting Material for Publication

Appropriate contributions are welcome. They must be neatly typewritten, be up to about 12 double-spaced pages, and contain sources. You may submit them in Microsoft Word or Word Perfect format on disc or by e-mail attachment.

Bylines. Pay in copies only.

Mail to Pueblo Lore, Pueblo County Historical Society, 203 West “B” Street, Pueblo, CO 81003.

Material will not be returned unless a postage-paid self-addressed envelope is included.

The Society disclaims responsibility for statements of fact or opinion made by contributors, and will not accept material with obvious historical errors.