SPOTLIGHT ON HUGO
Elevation: 5,039
County: Lincoln County seat
Population: 799 – 2005 census estimates (dropped from 885 in 2000 census)
Percentage 65 years and older: 17.7 (national rate: 12.4)
Percentage high school graduates: 85.3 (national rate: 80.4)
Percentage with bachelor’s degree: 14.5 (national rate: 24.4)
Established: 1871; incorporated 1909
Name: It is not clear how the town was named. It may have been named for settler Richard Hugo; Victor Hugo, the French novelist; or Hugo Richards, who was an official of the Holladay Overland Express and Mail Co.
Brief history: Hugo was originally a stagecoach stop, but when the Kansas-Pacific Railroad built a line through the area in 1870, the town grew to service railroad employees and became a center for cattle shipping. In 1882 Union Pacific built sheds in which sheep were sheared, then shipped the wool.
When Lincoln County was created in April 1889, Hugo was named the county seat.
On May 4, 1903, during spring cattle roundup, President Theodore Roosevelt was campaigning by train and was scheduled to go through Hugo. When the train stopped, the smell of breakfast cooking was so irresistible he changed his travel plans to stop and eat a steak with the cowboys who had gathered.
During the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps had a camp near the town and the Works Progress Administration built a public pool and a school gymnasium. A grant is being developed with plans of restoring the pool to its original WPA design.
Hugo’s economy is still based on farming and ranching, but some residents drive about 15 miles to work in Limon at the correctional facilities.
Interesting facts: Every winter, Hugo has a wild- turkey roundup to move the birds that inundate the town.
Events: The town hosts a Streets of Fire car show in June to benefit the volunteer fire department; the Championship Ranch Rodeo in June; a bicycle race in June; and the Lincoln County Fair in August.
Sources: town of Hugo (www.cityofhugoco.org/); Mayor Patsie Smith; Roundhouse Preservation Inc. (www.hugo roundhouse.com/Colorado); Lincoln County Historical Society; Colorado State Register of Historic Properties; “Buildings of Colorado” by Thomas J. Noel; “1001 Colorado Place Names” by Maxine Benson; “Colorado Place Names” by William Bright; U.S. Census Bureau 2000 and 2005; USGS
– Compiled by Bonnie Gilbert
REGIONAL NOTES
JEFFERSON COUNTY
Wal-Mart takes swipe at graffiti
A $1,500 grant from the Wal-Mart Foundation to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office will allow people to remove graffiti from their property.
Nearly 300 reports of graffiti were filed in unincorporated Jefferson County in 2006. The Sheriff’s Office used its inmate worker crew to remove graffiti from public property such as street signs, but graffiti on private property remains the owners’ problem.
For information or to obtain supplies, call the crime prevention unit, 720-377-2002.
