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 HE name "La Junta" (pronounced La Hunta) is of Spanish origin, and signifies a junction or meeting place, where roads meet and diverge to the mountain passes or wide plains. In December, 1875, La Junta was founded as the temporary halting place of the Santa Fe Railroad and the terminus of a branch of the Kansas Pacific from Kit Carson. It was the forwarding point for the New Mexico, Arizona and southwestern trade and was started by the big commercial firms who handled the bulk of that business. It was a lively burg, and the presence of from 300 to 500 "mule and bull teams" on her streets during the early days was not an uncommon sight. La Junta, while enjoying this trade, had a population of from 300 to 500, and cast a vote in 1876 of 109. In 1877, the Santa Fe Railroad was finished south to El Moro, and in June, 1878, the Kansas Pacific branch from Kit Carson to La Junta was abandoned and the rails taken up. With the extension of the Santa Fe the town gradually declined, and in 1877 its buildings had been mostly moved away. La Junta was left stranded and nearly forsaken. The Santa Fe, however, recognizing the future importance of the station, built a fine depot and roundhouse at La Junta, making it the headquarters of the Colorado division. The Santa Fe shops were established in a small way in 1879. Thus the town revived and began to expand. The expanding process has continued down to the present day with a steady and healthy growth, and at present La Junta is the metropolis of the Arkansas Valley with a population of 5,000 souls.
La Junta was organized and incorporated as a town under the general laws of the State of Colorado May 15, 1881. James C. Denny was La Junta's first representative citizen, the original booster of the town, and its first mayor, being elected to this office May 1, 1881, and receiving a majority of fifty votes over all competitors. Mr. Denny came to La Junta in 1878. At that time there were only two or three buildings in the place, and the first night after his arrival he slept on a counter in the railroad station. There was at this time no town or city organization, no voting precinct, no school district, and not much to indicate that there ever would be. While Mr. Denny officiated as mayor, he was also in charge of the station for the Santa Fe, with a force of fifteen clerks under him; founded and edited the "LA JUNTA TRIBUNE''; served as president of the school board, and was instrumental in building a fine school house, furnishing it more completely than any other school building in the county. He was appointed postmaster in 1879, and took particular delight in regaling a "tenderfoot" with his experience in that capacity, when the "wild and woolly cowboy" demanded a letter or blood, in which event he always turned the office over to Knight of the Spurs till the latter was satisfied.
The first school house was erected where the Catholic Church now stands on Granada Street, and was supposed to be on land owned by A. J. Anderson, until a resurvey showed it to be a part of the town site. In 1883, a donation of a block of land was made for the school house on Granada Street, known as School Building, No. 1, and later half a block for the Columbian School building on Colorado Avenue, which was erected in 1892, indicating a policy on the part of the pioneers of La Junta to encourage the prevailing tendency to make the town an educational center. In line with this tendency was the establishment in 1888 of the "Young Folks' Library," by T. T. Woodruff, "one who believes that property is a trust, and who takes this way to return to the people a part of the gain that has come to him through the increase in value of land in La Junta." The library now has 10,000 volumes, and experts concede that a better selection of books in its entirety could not have been made.
The first church, the Presbyterian, was organized January 30, 1882, with a membership of twenty-three, and the present church building was completed and dedicated January 7, 1883. The Methodist Church was organized early in 1887, the Baptist Church, November 17, 1887, and the Church of Christ in 1892. The latter church is now occupying a handsome brick edifice on Santa Fe Avenue, which was completed and dedicated in 1902. The Catholic, Reformed Presbyterian, St. Andrews Episcopal and A. M. E., all have church homes and an active membership.
La Junta's growth has been steady and continuous, and it has never experienced the blighting effects of a "boom." During the past six years many fine business blocks have been erected and a great number of modern residences, and the metropolitan features now enjoyed include everything needed by a town of twenty-five thousand -- water works owned by the city, sewers, electric lights, miles of brick sidewalks, an up-to-date fire department and an opera house capable of properly staging any theatrical attraction on the road. La Junta now employs over twenty-five teachers and has two magnificent school buildings. Her school system is surpassed by no city in the state. Graduates of the La Junta schools are admitted to the State University and other great educational institutions without examination.
The Jones' block, on the corner of Trinidad Plaza and Colorado Avenue, was the first modern business block erected in the city, being completed in 1881. The Central Block was completed in 1890 and the Masonic Temple Block in 1892. The court house was erected during the summer of 1897 at a cost of $15,000, and is conceded to be one of the most substantial, handsome, and conveniently arranged public buildings ever constructed for that amount of money. The La Junta Theatre, a modern and strictly up-to-date structure, with a seating capacity of 150, was erected during the year 1901 at a cost of $20,000. The new city hall was erected in 1902 at a cost of $12,000. The Finney Block, Pierce Block, Park Block, Dougherty Block, Powell Block, Simonton Block and Wonderly Block, all handsome brick structures, have been erected during the past five years.
The railroad interests in La Junta are extensive, and during the present year the Santa Fe contemplates making improvements that will make it one of the most important points on the line west of Topeka. The railroad shops, burned in December, 1903, are to be replaced during the present year on a much larger and grander scale. The headquarters of the western grand division of the Santa Fe were established in La Junta in 1902, and in the general office building erected during that year are located the headquarters of the general superintendent, mechanical superintendent and civil engineer of that division, each employing a considerable clerical force. The Santa Fe relay office, employing fifteen telegraph operators, is also located in this building, and from 40,000 to 50,000 messages are handled daily. During the year 1903, the Postal Telegraph Company also established a relay station in La Junta, where messages are repeated on the automatic system, the necessary equipment entailing an expenditure of over $20,000.
The lodges and clubs represented in La Junta are as follows: Woodman of the World, Ladies Circle, Modern Woodman of America, Masons, Eastern Star, Odd Fellows, Rebekahs, Knights of Pythias, Maccabees, Order of Pendo, Junior Order American Mechanics, Fraternal Order of Eagles, B.P.O.E., Grand Army of Republic, Woman's Relief Corps, A.O.U.W., Yeoman, La Junta Woman's Club, Fortnightly Club, Four O'Clock Club, etc.
La Junta is located at the junction of three divisions of the Santa Fe; 182 miles southeast of Denver, sixty-three miles east of Pueblo, eighty-three miles north and east of Trinidad, is the center of the famous Arkansas Valley and the county seat of Otero County. The altitude is 4,100 feet. The climate, taken the year around, has no equal in this Union. The nights are notably pleasant, by reason of the temperature, which is conducive to sleep, and it is always delightfully cool in the shade in the hottest weather. A case of sunstroke is unknown in the history of Colorado. The contrast between the temperature of sunshine and shade in Colorado is not easily comprehended by eastern people until they have spent a summer here. The average summer temperature of the Arkansas Valley is comparable to that of sunny southern France, the greatest grape-growing district in the world. Almost constant sunshine characterizes the winters. A wholly cloudy day is a rarity. The autumn is frequently protracted until about the holidays, when two or three weeks of real winter weather may be expected, but the air all the while is free from moisture, and pouring through it is the brilliant sunshine which has made Colorado winters almost proverbial for their pleasantness.
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