Colorado’s Central Plains is home to a number of properties recognized by the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties, the National Register of Historic Places, or both. Properties on these registers are respected historic and archaeological resources, worthy of preservation. For more information about either registry, please visit the Colorado Historical Society at www.coloradohistory.org.
Please plan to visit these special sites during your Journey to Colorado’s Central Plains:
Denver & New Orleans Railroad
Segment Along Elbert Rd., south of Elbert
The Denver and New Orleans Railroad operated over this now abandoned grade between
1881 and 1936. The Denver and New Orleans was the first standard gauge railroad to
operate between Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo.
J Bar Double C Ranch
21441 County Rd. 35-41, Elbert vicinity
The 368-acre J Bar Double C Ranch is significant for its development and use between
1952 and 1967 as a western summer camp for children of Jewish heritage. Beginning
on the East Coast after World War I, children’s summer camps geared to the Jewish
community spread westward after World War II. The J Bar Double C Ranch camp was
the Denver Jewish community’s response to the need for such a facility in the area and
is one of only two Jewish summer camps in Colorado.
Sacred Heart Church
7211 County Rd. 98, Elbert
Originally built on the banks of Boxelder Creek, a devastating flood in 1935 nearly
swept the building away and resulted in its move to higher ground east of town. The
church is a striking local expression of the Gothic Revival style.
St. Mark United Presbyterian Church*
225 Main Street, Kiowa
St. Mark United Presbyterian Church, a one-and-one-half-story clapboard structure
on a wooden foundation, has a high gabled roof and brick chimney. It was built in
1889 by prospective members under the direction of a local carpenter, Taylor Green. A
tower, topped with a spire and four-sided cupola, houses the narthex in its base. The
first Protestant church to be organized and constructed in Elbert County, the building
represents the architecture common in the eastern plains churches of that era. It
provided shelter for worship and social gatherings as well as serving as a relief station
during area floods of 1935.
Huber Building (Carlson Building)
239 Main Street, Elizabeth
The 1890 building is typical of late 19th century storefronts. It contained a variety of
retail and wholesale enterprises and contributed to the commercial history of Elizabeth.
Fondis Store
Intersection of Elbert County Rds. 69 and 98, Fondis
Opened in 1902, seven years after the community’s founding, the store served until
1949 as the community’s center of commerce and information. In addition to operating
as a general store, the building variously shared space with a doctor’s office and
pharmacy; welcomed the daily stage coach from Elbert; hosted meetings, parties, dances
and celebrations; and on election day, served as the local polling place. The one-story
brick building marked the center of the community and soon became its visual
landmark.
Martin Homestead
57920 County Rd., Genoa
The homestead evolved architecturally over a period from 1899 to 1916. The Martins
homesteaded the land in 1899, and the fourth generation of the same family continues
to work the farm. The property includes the original sod house and a large frame
barn, both typical in design, materials, and workmanship for their place and period of
construction.
World’s Wonder View Tower
30121 Frontage Rd., Genoa
The 1926 World’s Wonder View Tower rose on Colorado’s eastern plains as a commercial
and recreational center designed to profit from the needs of rail and highway travelers.
Tourist facilities like the tower once dotted every major western highway. They now
represent a rare and disappearing resource.
Hedlund House
617 3rd Avenue, Hugo
The circa 1877 Hedlund House is part of the first homestead filing in the Hugo area.
The house is a wood frame structure typical of its place and period of construction.
Hugo Union Pacific Railroad Roundhouse
Adjacent to Union Pacific RR right-of-way, Hugo
The 1909 roundhouse is associated with the operation and maintenance of the Union
Pacific Railroad in eastern Colorado. It is Colorado’s most intact Union Pacific example
and one of only four surviving roundhouses in the state.
Limon Railroad Depot (Limon Heritage Museum)*
899 1st Street, Limon
The town’s location at the intersection of the Union Pacific Railroad and the Chicago,
Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, and its designation as a division point on the latter,
made Limon an important regional rail center and a major source of
local employment. The 1910 wood frame depot is one of only three Rock Island depots
in Colorado remaining in their place of operation. Modernized by the Rock Island in
the late 1930s, the depot is important for its design adaptions that allowed it to effectively
serve and manage traffic at a major rail junction into the 1950s. In 1990, the Mid
States Port Authority donated the building to the Limon Heritage Society, and it now
serves as a museum.
Lincoln Theatre
245 E Avenue, Limon
The Lincoln Theatre is LImon's longest surviving movie theatre, opening in 1938 as the Cactus Theatre before assuming the Lincoln name in 1949. The theatre has operated continuously to the present.
Walks Camp Park
63551 County Rd. 27, Limon vicinity
Since the creation of the Walks Camp Park Association in 1915, the agricultural
community north of Limon has operated the park as a recreational complex. The
1930 Grandstand, exemplifying a basic design type common in the first half of
the 20th century, provides spectator seating for sporting events and community
celebrations. The Recreation Hall, moved to the park in 1944 from the former Civilian
Conservation Corps camp in Hugo, is of typical CCC design and provides
additional sheltered space for a variety of community functions.
 Burlington State Armory*
191 14th Street, Burlington
Constructed in 1926, this architecturally significant, two and-one-half-story red brick
building occupies a prominent location at the south end of Burlington’s commercial
district. Sidney G. Frazier, a prolific Colorado architect and captain in the National
Guard, designed the late Gothic Revival style building.
Elitch Gardens Carousel/Kit Carson County Carousel *
Kit Carson County Fairgrounds, Burlington
The 1905 carousel is a rare surviving example of a stationary menagerie carousel
built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company for Denver’s Elitch Gardens. The carousel
and its 1912 Wurlitzer Monster Military Band Organ were moved to the Kit Carson
County Fairgrounds in 1928.
Winegar Building*
494-498 14th Street, Burlington
A. W. Winegar built this two-story brick commercial building in 1907. Distinctive for
its degree and type of detailing, the structure dominates the main commercial street
comprised mainly of small and modest one and two-story brick structures. Over the
years, the building has housed various businesses including: real estate offices, a bank,
a grocery store, and hospital and doctors’ offices.
Flagler Hospital (Municipal Building)*
311 Main Avenue, Flagler
Since its construction in 1909, by W. L. Price and W. H. Lavington, the building has
housed a variety of functions important to the community’s growth. From 1909 to
approximately 1930, the building operated as a hotel. In 1937, it
was purchased by Dr. William L. McBride who remodeled it into a hospital and operated
it as such until 1963. The Town of Flagler purchased the building in 1967 and converted
it to city offices and the town library.
Second Central School
404 Fourth Street, Flagler
Constructed in 1915, this rural schoolhouse was originally located 13 miles southeast
of Flagler. Consolidation forced the school to close, and it remained vacant for many
years. It was moved to Flagler in 1993 for use as a local museum.
This architecturally significant school includes details such as flared eaves and unusual
finials.
Spring Creek Bridge*
U.S. Highway 24, Vona vicinity
The 1928-29 concrete slab bridge includes seven 19-foot spans. It crosses Spring Creek
on a now lightly traveled portion of U.S. Highway 24 that runs parallel to 1-70 between
Seibert and Vona. Designed by the Colorado Department of Highways and constructed
by M. E. Carlson, it remains intact as a good example of one of Colorado’s early multiple
span concrete highway bridges. Listed under Highway Bridges in Colorado Multiple
Property Submission.
Cheyenne County Courthouse*
51 S. 1st Street Cheyenne Wells
The Cheyenne County Courthouse is a red brick structure of Georgian Revival style
located in the center of the courthouse square. The county selected John J. Huddart of
Denver as the architect, and contractor S. L. Work of Denver
constructed the building between 1908-1909. Huddart designed six Colorado
courthouses during his career, with the Cheyenne County facility being his second
such commission. The courthouse has served as the center of county government for
nearly a century.
Cheyenne County Jail (Old Cheyenne County Jail Museum)*
85 W. 2nd Street, Cheyenne Wells
The county constructed its 1894 jail following the plans of Denver architect Robert S.
Roeschlaub. The building is the only remaining jailhouse of two designed by
Roeschlaub and represents the development of the urban frontier on the plains of
Colorado.
Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph Building
50 S. First Street, Cheyenne Wells
The 1927 building, currently the town’s library, is important for its association with
the modernization of telephone service in Cheyenne Wells. It is also a good local example
of a typical early 20th century commercial building.
Kit Carson Pool Hall
2nd & Main Street, Kit Carson
This classic brick storefront, with stepped parapet, typifies 20th Century commercial
design. Built in 1915 and owned by Roy M. Collins until about 1921, the structure
served as a formal and informal meeting place for the community, provided recreation
facilities, and housed a variety of commercial establishments.
Union Pacific Pumphouse
1st Street, Kit Carson
Associated with the settlement of the area and the development of the railroad, the
circa 1880 pumphouse is an unusual example of a masonry railroad utility building.
It originally housed the machinery which pumped water into the large storage tank
used by the Union Pacific Railroad to fill its passing steam locomotives. The building
appears to be Colorado’s only surviving stone railroad pumphouse.
Kit Carson Union Pacific Railroad Depot (Kit Carson Museum)
U. S. Hwy. 40/287, Kit Carson
Constructed in 1904, the wood frame building is a well-preserved example of a Union
Pacific standard plan combination depot. In addition to handling passengers and
freight, this depot also served as the station agent’s residence. A prominent bay window
located in the office area provided the agent with an unobstructed view of the track in
both directions. With minor exceptions, the interior of the depot retains its original
layout and materials. Threatened with demolition in 1969, the building moved from its original track side location by the Kit Carson Historical Society for use as a museum. It remains architecturally important as the most intact Colorado example of
this depot type.
Kit Carson Union Pacific Railroad Signal Maintainer’s House
(Kit Carson Museum)
U. S. Hwy. 40/287, Kit Carson
The Signal Maintainer’s House, built about 1930, is a well preserved and publicly
accessible example of a Union Pacific standard plan 24 foot x 34 foot frame dwelling
with bath. Though once common along the railroad’s right-of-way, few intact examples of this type of building remain. The relocated building is now part of the Kit Carson
Museum.
Union Pacific Railroad Caboose No. 25400 (Kit Carson Museum)
U. S. Hwy. 40/287, Kit Carson
The 1959 Caboose No. 25400 typifies mid-century all-steel caboose design.
The Class CA-7 caboose represents caboose design, materials, and construction just before the time that railroads began the process of eliminating the caboose from freight train operations. No. 25400 was the first of one hundred Class CA-7 cabooses constructed by
the Union Pacific. The car is one of only three surviving Class CA-7 cabooses in Colorado.
The caboose retains nearly all of its original design and materials, on both its exterior and its interior.
Wild Horse Mercantile
15170 5th Street, Wild Horse
Built after the 1917 fire that destroyed the community’s entire business block, the Wild Horse Mercantile was the longest-continuously-operating commercial establishment in town. The small brick and stucco building served local customers until the late
1960s.
Wild Horse School
8513 U. S. Hwy. 40/287, Wild Horse
The building was the only school in Wild Horse from 1912 until 1964 and also served
for a number of years as the center of the community’s social activities. The school
possesses the distinctive characteristics of the rural schoolhouse, as evidenced by its
utilitarian design, size, materials, color, and fenestration pattern. |
