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Bureau of Reclamation in Colorado

The United States Reclamation Service, later renamed the Bureau of Reclamation, was created in 1902 to advance settlement of the West through construction of large dams, reservoirs, canals, and other projects. Since then, the service has played an…

Colorado National Monument

On May 24, 1911, President William Howard Taft established Colorado National Monument in Mesa County, near Grand Junction. Today the monument, one of eight in Colorado, encompasses more than 20,000 acres of sandstone cliffs and monoliths, scenic canyons,…

Department of Energy Grand Junction Office

Built in 1943, the Department of Energy Grand Junction Office, also known as the “Manhattan Engineer District Grand Junction Office” and the “Atomic Energy Commission Grand Junction Operations Office,” stands at 2591 Legacy Way in Grand Junction. During…

Grand Junction

With a population of nearly 60,000, Grand Junction is the largest city on Colorado’s Western Slope. The city takes its name from its location at the junction of the Gunnison and Colorado (formerly the Grand) Rivers, in the heart of the Grand Valley…

Grand Junction Depot

The Grand Junction Depot is a two-story Italian Renaissance railroad station built in 1906 to accommodate the city’s growing rail traffic. A downtown landmark, the building serves as a reminder of the important role that railroads—especially the Denver …

Handy Chapel

Built in 1892 in downtown Grand Junction, Handy Chapel (200 White Ave, Grand Junction, CO 81501) is affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church but is legally owned by the black citizens of the city. In more than 120 years of existence,…

Mesa County

Mesa County is situated on 3,341 square miles of the eastern Colorado Plateau in western Colorado. The county is named for the wide, flat-topped mountains within its borders. The Spanish called such mountains mesas—meaning “tables.” The county’s largest…

Pine Gulch Fire

The Pine Gulch Fire was ignited by a lightning strike on July 31, 2020, about eighteen miles north of Grand Junction in Garfield and Mesa Counties. Over the next month, the fire grew to encompass more than 139,000 acres, making it the third-largest…

Rim Rock Drive

Built primarily by New Deal work programs in the 1930s, Rim Rock Drive is a twenty-three-mile scenic road through Colorado National Monument. Connecting Fruita and Grand Junction, the road increased tourism to the monument by allowing travelers to drive…

Stranges Grocery

Located at 226 Pitkin Avenue in Grand Junction, Stranges Grocery is a two-story commercial building that housed one of four Italian groceries in the early twentieth century. Built in 1909 by local stonemason Nunzio Grasso, the grocery was owned and…

Uranium Mining

Uranium mining in Colorado dates to the late nineteenth century, when uranium resources were discovered in the southwestern part of the state. The region’s Uravan Mineral Belt is rich in carnotite, the ore that produces uranium and vanadium. Both…

Wayne Aspinall

At the memorial service for long-time congressman Wayne Aspinall in 1983, Colorado Governor Richard Lamm said, “you can’t take a drink of water in Colorado without remembering Wayne Aspinall.” Wayne Norviel Aspinall (1896–1983) was born in Ohio and…