The 1990 tornado, which destroyed 80 percent of the town’s central business district and attempted to blow away Limon’s past, galvanized survivors into transforming Main Street into a modest prairie village, anchored by a vibrant volunteer-driven museum complex. Limon is all about growing wheat, cattle and the Badgers. This year the team took the state championship in track for the fourth year and the state championship in girls’ basketball for the third, after winning their 50th consecutive 1A football game in November. Today the State Correctional Facility, providing closed custody for 957 inmates, has replaced the railroad as the largest employer in “Hub City.” There are 51 white and 65 yellow pages in the phone book, the town’s 2,000 residents still go down to the post office for mail and, while most of the 43 high school graduates will head off to college, they’ll all be around for the pie sale and cemetery walk at the Aug. 4 Heritage Days Celebration. – Sureva Towler, special to The Denver Post
Getting around: Limon sits at the confluence of Interstate 70, U.S. 24, 40 and 287, and Colorado 71. Drive southeast 89 miles on I-70 from Denver or east 73 miles on U.S. 24 from Colorado Springs.
