One evening while eating at a steakhouse with my grandfather, I noticed him gasp at the price of sirloin and mutter, “Why, in my day, you could buy a whole cow for $5.” I used to just think he was just being dramatic, but his comical and curmudgeonly attitude wasn’t farfetched: prices have raised significantly […]

“When my father reached this country, this little valley, to him it was the ideal place, the land of his dreams and he always said, and I quote: ‘This valley is a little bit of Heaven on Earth.” – Lucille Mahannah In 1895, Lucille (Hunter) Mahannah was born in the southeast corner of an adobe […]

Early Mesa County settler Peter Matteroli was the dentist who outlasted them all. Peter felt anything but a warm welcome when he first decided to start his business in Grand Junction in the early 1900’s.  He rented a room on the 3rd floor in the Grand Valley National Bank Building (now the Dalby Wendland and Co. […]

“The mission of Handy Chapel has been and continues to be a beacon of helping with the spiritual, social and economic needs of all our fellow man.” – Josephine Dickey Nestled on the corner of 2nd Street and Grand Avenue in Grand Junction, Colorado lies the Handy Chapel, an important structural piece of Mesa County’s […]

Dudley Mitchell was an early Mesa County resident and an interviewee of the Mesa County Oral History Project.  In multiple interviews with Dudley, he discusses his fifty-year employment working an assortment of jobs for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad (D&RG). If you ever needed any information on how the railroad worked in the early […]

Imagine what you were like a decade ago – Where you lived, the people you surrounded yourself with, the activities you chose to partake in, your (maybe regrettable) hairstyle. Similar to how you have undergone a mighty transition or two, Mesa County Libraries has had quite the decade of change and growth. One of the […]

  Armand de Beque, an early Mesa County resident and interviewee of the Mesa County Oral History Project, had his fair share of dirt on his father, Dr. Wallace A.E. de Beque.  Dr. de Beque was one of the founders of De Beque, Colorado, a small town in Mesa County.  As described in an interview […]

The scramble to prepare for the big winter holiday season started weeks ago.  There have been moments of joy while visiting with relatives and loved ones, or finding that perfect gift for your kiddo.  Then there’s moments of stress when realizing the strings of Christmas lights you’ve spent hours draping over your roof won’t turn […]