A Compendium of Curious Colorado Place Names (History & Guide) by Flynn Jim

Author:Flynn, Jim [Flynn, Jim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2016-12-04T16:00:00+00:00

Well-dressed participants on a wild flower train excursion west of Colorado Springs, organized by B.F. Spinney and with transportation provided by the long-defunct Colorado Midland Railway. Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum .

STRASBURG . This name comes from John Strasburg, a section foreman for the Kansas Pacific Railroad. The small town of Strasburg, along the I-70 corridor east of Denver, was named after him. The town of Strasburg, formerly known as Comanche Crossing, claims to be the true location of the first transcontinental railroad’s completion. That’s because when the Golden Spike was driven at Promontory Point, Utah, on May 10, 1869, joining tracks of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads, the Union Pacific had no bridge across the Missouri River. Union Pacific passengers had to exit the train they were on and cross the river between Omaha and Council Bluffs by ferry and then get back on a train. The Kansas Pacific Railroad, on the other hand, managed to complete a bridge across the river at Kansas City before the Union Pacific completed its bridge at Omaha. This led to a meeting of track-laying crews of the Kansas Pacific Railroad at Comanche Crossing (now Strasburg) on August 15, 1870, allowing someone, for the first time, to cross the entire continent without getting off the train. History has generally ignored Strasburg’s position on this first-to-complete issue and sided with Utah.

WELLINGTON . This name comes from C.L. Wellington, who was a traffic manager for the Colorado and Southern Railroad. That modest position was enough to cause his name to be given to a town in north-central Colorado (Larimer County) founded in 1902, not far from the Colorado/Wyoming border. Wellington is now bisected by I-25 and is best known as the childhood home of former Supreme Court justice Byron White, who regularly returned there for high school class reunions. The town is also remembered as the site of a wooly mammoth discovery in 2000. Unfortunately, important parts of the wooly mammoth’s remains didn’t survive excavation and transportation. The parts that did survive are now in the possession of the University of Colorado. Wellington has several interesting street names capturing the spirit of the Old West, such as Thundering Herd Way, Stampede Drive and Firewater Lane. Wooly Mammoth Circle marks the location of the wooly mammoth discovery. Wellington was well known as a place where, during Prohibition, travelers moving between Cheyenne and Fort Collins could stop for gas—and find a drink.

WESTCLIFFE . This name comes from Westcliff-on-the-Sea, England, the birthplace of Dr. William A. Bell. Bell was General William Palmer’s business partner in many Colorado-related ventures, including the Denver and Rio Grande Railway. The town of Westcliffe got going in 1881 when the D&RG came to this part of Colorado, and Dr. Bell named the town for his old-world birthplace. Westcliffe sits in a beautiful valley between the Wet Mountains on the east and the Sangre de Cristo Range on the west. Although far removed from useful things like hospitals and shopping malls, Westcliffe, the

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