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Jean Page discusses the story of Ed Scott, a Mesa County, Colorado pioneer and longtime employee and manager of the Red Trunk clothing store. She also talks about other businesses and people in Grand Junction. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries, the Museums of Western Colorado and the Mesa County Historical Society.
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Dorothy Evans discusses growing up in Collbran, Colorado and receiving her business degree from the Hoel-Ross Business College in Grand Junction. She describes the social life in Grand Junction in and around Main Street, and recalls details about the prominent members of Mesa County, railroad workers, local business owners, and characters who lived and worked in the area. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration...
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In this recording, Alta Nolan reads the memoirs of Cordelia Files. Files talks about the history of her parents and maternal grandparents who homesteaded in the Fruita, Colorado area in the 1890’s. She describes the fruit growing operation on the homestead. She recounts seeing the Ute people and Chipeta when they came in the fall to dry fruit from the orchard. She remembers early Fruita, with its dirt streets and plank sidewalks. She speaks about...
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Paul Bowers, then the airport manager of Walker Field (now known as the Grand Junction Regional Airport), talks about new airport facilities, their anticipated effect on businesses along Horizon Drive and North Avenue, and answers questions from the North Avenue Association. This recording is made available via signed release by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
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Ray Boggs talks about his family’s move to Colorado and about attending the University of Colorado at Boulder. He remembers playing on a baseball team for the Midwest Oil Company and briefly as a professional pitcher for the Boston Braves. He describes pitching methods. He recalls working for the International Harvester company, a farm implement dealer, and how the company brought him to Grand Junction, where he became the manager of the store there...
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Stephen Johnson talks about his education and background as a horticulturalist, and opening Johnson’s House of Flowers in Montrose, Colorado in 1919. He speaks about moving to Grand Junction, where he opened a florist business of the same name in 1937. He describes his love of practical jokes, shopping with his sons for school clothes on Main Street, and the different businesses there. He talks about his son Bob Johnson, his friendship with Al Look...
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Eugene Perry talks about his childhood in Grand Junction’s Riverside neighborhood. He speaks about working for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad from the time he was thirteen years old, his career building track as a section foreman, and the history of D&RG in Grand Junction. He discusses landmarks such as Bowman’s slaughterhouse, the Pest House, and the town’s ice houses. He reminisces about a youth curfew that was in place in Grand Junction...
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Inez Prinster discusses the history of Grand Junction, Colorado buildings, businesses and people in a presentation for the Mesa County Historical Society. This recording is made available via signed release by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado. *Photograph from the 1947 Mesa College annual.
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Frank Simonetti Jr. talks about the arrival of his Italian immigrant parents in Grand Junction, Colorado, about his school days at the Whitman and St. Joseph’s School, and about the history of the downtown area. He speaks about working for the Citizens Finance Company for many years and about Melvin “Pappy” Due, a founding member and longtime president of the company. He describes what it was like to work for a financing and insurance company...
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Glenn McFall discusses downtown businesses and business owners in Grand Junction, Colorado, as well as the shoe store he worked at for nine years, McConnell-Lowes. Glenn also talks about the involvement of the Ku Klux Klan in the Grand Valley area, the Mesa County Pest House and Smallpox outbreaks, the social scene and where people went to go dancing, the Mesa County Fair, horse racing and gambling, bailing rowdy cowboys out of the local jail, Eddie...
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Wyatt Wood describes his time as the manager of the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce and talks about the people he met there, including John Otto, who at one time was allowed to keep a desk in the Chamber office. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
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Loyd Files talks about his early life in Kansas, moving to Colorado with his family via covered wagon in 1914, and the process of filing for a homestead. He remembers homesteading with his parents in Lamar, Colorado, and with his brother in Glade Park in 1920. He recalls working on the crew that built the Serpents Trail over the Colorado National Monument, meeting John Otto, and helping build Rimrock Drive over the Monument. He speaks about his marriage...
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Sterling Smith, executive officer of the C.D. Smith Drug Company, talks about the childhood and life of his father, C.D. Smith, who founded the company. He describes his father’s success and the growth of his business into one of the first drugstore chains in Colorado. He discusses diversification of the business as it became involved with wholesale candy sales, chemical manufacture, and real estate. He talks about activities of C.D. Smith and the...
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Sarah E. Gowen talks about her longtime residence at 14th and Main Streets in Grand Junction, Colorado, and about the history of local businesses, buildings and people. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries, the Museums of Western Colorado and the Mesa County Historical Society. *Photograph from 1923 Grand Junction High School yearbook.
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Dick Williams talks about the games he played with children as a boy in the downtown area of Grand Junction, including hide and go seek and kick the can. He remembers playing sandlot baseball and other games in a vacant lot on 9th Street between Grand and White Avenues. He recalls swimming in ditches and canals, and ice skating in what is now Lincoln Park. He speaks about competing in athletics in high school and college, and in Pioneer Clubs, which...