Most Grand Junctionites know about Rocket Park, Lincoln Park, and the other larger parks that draw kids from throughout the valley. But the city also has some quirky little parks that not many people know about. Hillcrest Park forms the inner part of a cul-de-sac in the Hillcrest neighborhood, bears no sign that I can […]
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Curious about Mesa County’s past? Satisfy your history itch in one (or a few) easy click(s). Our Mesa County Oral History Project webpage has links to online information about several important people, places, and topics from Mesa County’s history. Find out what Grand Junction contemporaries of Dalton Trumbo thought of him before he became a […]
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No one is going to confuse Colorado Avenue with San Francisco in its heyday of vice (the true Barbary Coast). But until the 1940’s, the street served as Grand Junction’s epicenter for adult entertainments, and thus took on the Barbary Coast moniker. The Grand Junction News presented early accounts of murder and mayhem on Colorado […]
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Sure, you can explore the Mesa County Oral History Project online for fascinating local stories, people and history, but why stop there when the Mesa County Libraries digital archive also contains random recordings of a not-so-local nature? For instance, what is a performance by the Rainbow Valley Boys, a bluegrass band from back East, doing […]
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Did you know that the Mesa County Fairgrounds at Veteran’s Memorial Park were once known as Uranium Downs? People who attended horse races, motocross, WWF style “wrestling,” and other events back in the day might remember this nod to Mesa County’s mining (and radioactive) legacy. The Mesa County Fairgrounds opened in their current location in […]
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There are many unincorporated areas in Mesa County, echoes of old place names that exist for most people as amorphous blobs upon the map without clear boundary delineation. I can tell people I grew up in Clifton, but what does that really mean, aside from a designated census area, a mailing zip code of 81520, […]
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When Glenn McFall was a teenager riding the rails and looking for work to support his mother and siblings, he landed flat broke in Salida. He had sent all the money he had earned back to his mother, not thinking to save anything for food. He and a friend went door-to-door, asking for something to […]
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Jess Urban Sickenberger was an early Twentieth century Mesa County doctor, and, according to more than one interviewee with the Mesa County Oral History Project, one of the area’s top surgeons. Apparently, he was also so devoted to his profession that he would let nothing get in the way of helping a patient. Rural doctors […]
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It may seem unlikely to the Grand Valley’s newer and/or younger residents, but for many years, North Avenue was a big commercial and social destination that went beyond fast food restaurants and discount stores. In the original platting of Grand Junction in 1881-2, North Avenue served as the northern boundary to town, and a quick […]
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Stuck between modern amenities and primitive facilities, Judge Logan of Grand Junction chose a middle and ultimately shocking course in order to gain some sort of comfort while using the bathroom. The judge owned what Mesa County Oral History Project interviewee Glenn McFall called “a real nice home” near the brickyard (so presumably in the […]
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