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Do you have a burning local history topic that you’d like to investigate, or a family history mystery that you want to solve? Mesa County Libraries and other libraries have some great resources for the beginning researcher. Patrons often come in looking for an article about a family member or ancestor. If you have a […]
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Sometime in the late 1930’s or early 1940’s, a monkey named Betty escaped from the Lincoln Park Zoo. The Lincoln Park Zoo was a small zoo that was located in Grand Junction’s Lincoln Park in the early and mid-Twentieth century. According to William “Bill” Ela, who grew up to become a Mesa County District […]
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An oral history interview with local arts pioneer Dave Davis can now be found online in the Mesa County Oral History Project (a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado). Many Grand Valley residents know the name of Dave Davis in association with Grand Junction’s Art on the Corner, a longstanding […]
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According to Muriel Marshall in her history of the Uncompahgre, cowboy and probable horse rustler Ben Lowe may once have ridden his horse into the John Davis clothing store on Grand Junction’s Main Street during one of his “Shoot up Main” weekends. Marks on the floor from the horse were reportedly visible in the clothing […]
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As a former sheriff’s deputy and an African-American woman involved with community and educational efforts through Black Citizens and Friends, Janielle Westermire has a unique and very personal perspective on race relations, and on the Black Lives Matter protests that gripped the United States following the 2020 death of George Floyd. In her interview with […]
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Beginning tomorrow on First Friday, the Art Center of Western Colorado will host a new exhibit titled Alfred Nestler: The Power of the Pen: An Exhibition from The Art Center’s Permanent Collection. In honor of this showing, we explore the life of Nestler, an artist who got his start in Grand Junction before becoming part […]
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In 1981, coinciding with Grand Junction’s centennial celebration, the Mesa County Oral History Project (MCOHP) produced forty-eight radio plays about local history. Over forty-eight weeks, these plays aired on radio stations KSTR, KREX-AM, KREX-FM, and KMSA, with the last play broadcasting on August 21, 1982. Now, the Radio History Theater plays have been digitized and […]
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Antonio Clark has already accomplished much as a young man. He was a standout football player for Thomas Jefferson High School in Denver. He also played cornerback for the Colorado Mesa University football team, and became the first person in his family to graduate from college. Perhaps his greatest accomplishment, though, came as a community […]
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I first heard about the supposed valley curse in 1990. A friend had gone away to college and come back before finishing. He said, “It must be the valley curse.” When I asked what that was, he explained that when the Utes were forcibly removed from the Grand Valley in 1881, they cursed the white […]
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With the gruesome discovery of the bodies of First Nations children on the grounds of residential schools in Canada, people are also turning their attention to American Indian schools in the United States. These boarding schools operated in the late 1800’s and 1900’s. They were dedicated to the forced acculturation of Native American children, who […]
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