SPOTLIGHT ON STERLING
STERLING
Elevation: 3,937 feet
Population: 12,589*
Percentage high school graduates: 81 (national rate: 80.4
Percentage bachelor’s degree or higher: 12.6 (national rate: 24.4)
Median family income in 1999 dollars: $39,103 (national median: $50,046)
County: Logan County seat
Established: 1873; incorporated, 1884
Name: David Leavitt, a railroad surveyor, who platted the town, chose the name from his hometown of Sterling, Ill.
Brief history: Stephen H. Long, for whom Longs Peak is named, passed through the area now known as Logan County in 1820. He referred to the area as “The Great American Desert.”
During the 1860s, the Overland Trail (a branch of the Oregon Trail that went through the area) was one of the most heavily traveled roads in the country.
By the early 1870s, Southerners fleeing Reconstruction moved to the Sterling area and settled 4 miles north of the present townsite. The first irrigation ditch was built in 1873.
When the Union Pacific railroad built a line through the area in 1881, residents of the original town moved a few miles southwest to the present site. The town developed as a railroad and agricultural community. A sugar mill was opened in 1905.
Economy: The town’s economy is based mainly on service businesses, agriculture that includes ranching and sugar beet, corn and hay farming, and a 2,445-bed prison that was built about six years ago.
National Historic Register: Sterling has nine sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places including the Sterling Union Pacific Railroad Depot, the post office and federal courthouse.
Sources: City of Sterling; Logan County Chamber of Commerce; Overland Trail Museum; “1001 Colorado Place Names” by Maxine Benson; “Colorado Place Names” by William Bright; U.S. Census Bureau; USGS
*2005 census estimates; all other demographics based on 2000 census
REGIONAL NOTES
PARKER
Photographer hosts book signing
Colorado photographer John Fielder will have a pre-release sale of his first children’s book, “Do You See What I See?” from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at The Wildlife Experience in Parker.
With Fielder’s digital photos as a backdrop, author Claudia Cangilla McAdam will give a reading from their book, which goes on sale Oct. 9.
She and Fielder will sign books afterward. The event is free to members of The Wildlife Experience. For nonmembers, the fee is $10 for adults and $5 for children.
For more information, call 720-488-3300 or visit thewildlifeexperience.org.
AURORA
Community invited to Hindu rite
Sunday at Del Mar Park, Colorado Hindus invite other faith communities to celebrate Durga Yagya, a fire ceremony to the Mother Goddess, Durga, for unity, world peace and spiritual harmony.
The park is at East Sixth Avenue and Peoria Street. The event, from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., is open to people of all faiths and followed by a free vegetarian lunch.
For more information, call 720-323-7799 or 303-377-6438.
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