SPOTLIGHT ON CONEJOS
Elevation: 7,903 feet
Population: Fewer than 100
Established: 1854, as one of the first permanent non-American Indian settlements
Name: The town was originally called Guadalupe, but later the name was changed to Conejos for the river that ran through there. Conejos means “rabbits” in Spanish.
County: County seat of Conejos County, which became one of the original 17 territorial counties in 1861.
The town is unique because it is the only county seat in the state that is unincorporated.
Brief history: Major Lafayette Head came up from New Mexico and, along with other settlers, helped establish the town in 1854. The settlement of Guadalupe was on the north bank of the Conejos River. Because of several floods, the village was moved to the south bank and higher ground. It was renamed at the time of the move.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, built in the 1850s, is the oldest church in Colorado.
When Conejos became the county seat of Conejos County in 1861, a post office was established.
In 1867, Head, along with Otto Mears, built a flour mill in the village. The flour won prizes at state fairs and, in 1893, won the Gold Medal award at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.
Head owned one of first large flocks of sheep in the San Luis Valley and was a pioneer in irrigation techniques. A Republican, he was a member of the state’s Constitutional Convention in 1875 and became Colorado’s first lieutenant governor, from 1877 to 1879.
In 1877, the Sisters of Loretto opened the Guadalupe Academy, a school that closed in 1918.
The original county courthouse, built in 1891, was destroyed by fire in 1980. It was rebuilt in 1981.
For several years, Conejos was a trade center, with a bank, saloons, trading posts, a flower mill and the courthouse. The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad had plans to build the railroad through Conejos, but because of the community’s high land prices and reluctance to give right of way to the railroad, the rail line was built through Antonito in 1880. Over the following years, the population of Conejos declined, with many residents moving to Antonito.
Sources: Conejos County clerk’s office; Colorado State Archives; “Colorado Place Names” by William Bright; Denver Post archives; Catholic Diocese of Pueblo; U.S. Geological Survey; Colorado state government; Conejos County, “A Quick History” by Leland Feitz; “Conejos Country” by Frances Harvey Mead
– Compiled by Bonnie Gilbert
REGIONAL NOTES
GRAND JUNCTION
“Breakfast With Birds” takes wing
The Colorado Division of Wildlife and the
Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory will celebrate
the fall bird migration with a “Breakfast With the
Birds” along the Colorado River near Grand Junction
on Saturday.
The celebration will include a biologist-led bird
walk and observation of bird catching and banding.
Participants will be treated to a hand-held
breakfast. The event will run from 7 to 11 a.m.
Advance registration is required, and the cost is
$5 a person. For more information or to register,
call Stan Johnson at 970-241-4674.
DENVER POST STAFF REPORTS
