2024 Spring Newsletter

Hello, history-loving friends!  Buckle up for another year of fascinating local history!  Our first program of the year took place at our Annual Meeting on March 23rd at the historic Coaldale Schoolhouse, now known as the Coaldale Community Building.  We enjoyed a “meet and greet” time before the business meeting, and then moved on to our featured program, “Cattlemen, Cattle Ranches and Cowboys” presented by Debbie Hildebrand and Shari Mohr.  Debbie and Shari have been involved in extensive research and documentation of the history and location of the historic cattle operations in Fremont, Custer and Chaffee Counties, and shared some of the information and stories they have gleaned.  If you missed the program, they will be happy to answer your questions and share research findings anytime!

 UPCOMING EVENTS AND PROGRAMS

•  “LOOK BACK INTO HISTORY” ongoing open-house events with rotating displays at our two history centers
  • COTOPAXI-MULLINS HISTORY CENTER, located at CR 12 at Plum Street in Cotopaxi – 2nd Sunday of every month, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.
  • HOWARD HISTORY CENTER, located at 70 CR 56 in old Howard, 4th Sunday of the month from May through September, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.
• June 8, 1-3 p.m., Cotopaxi school – “North Country Cattle Barron” – all about T. Witcher
• July 6, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. – vintage car show at Howard History Center
• September 14, 1-3 p.m. – Coaldale area history, with particular emphasis on the quarry
• October 13, 1-3 p.m. – Cotopaxi/Plum Street tour

In addition to the above events, we will once again have a table at the Coaldale Market which takes place at the Coaldale Community Building on Wednesdays from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. during the summer months.  Stop by to say hello, ask questions, or purchase local history guides or tour books (great gifts!). We hope you will be able to join us for as many of these programs or events as possible.  Documenting and sharing local history is our mission and we learn something new or make a new connection every time we get together.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

This spring we added two new Board members, Sandy Wallace and Clark Gardner, who have already contributed numerous hours assisting at the evolving Cotopaxi-Mullins History Center.  Volunteer opportunities abound, whether it might be research and filing, watering plants around the buildings, cutting grass/weeds, maintaining the areas around the “Pathways to History” signs on CR 45, distributing event flyers, providing goodies for bake sales – whatever your skill set or interests, we’ll find a place for you!  THANKS FOR YOUR ONGOING SUPPORT AND INTEREST IN LOCAL HISTORY; SEE YOU SOON!

WESTERN FREMONT HISTORIC SOCIETY

P.O. Box 181, Howard, CO  81233

Parkdale   Texas Creek   Cotopaxi   Coaldale   Howard   Swissvale   Wellsville

2023 SPRING NEWSLETTER

We enjoyed seeing so many of you at our Annual Meeting on April 1 at the Coaldale Community Building.  It is always fun to get together with other history lovers and community members who want to learn more about our area.  If you were unable to attend, you missed a great program about the history of Cotopaxi and the old general store which until recently was owned by the Mullins family.  We are anticipating a lot of adventures and discoveries now that WFHS has taken on the preservation of that property, and we look forward to an expanded presence in the Cotopaxi area.  The Annual Meeting also featured a bake sale as the first of our fundraising efforts to maintain the Cotopaxi-Mullins History Center, including property taxes and utilities – most of us took home a fine sampling of yummy treats!

              SUMMER PROGRAMS AND EVENTS ON TAP:

• “Look Back into History” – open house events at the History Center in Howard (0070 Co. Rd. 56) from 1-3 p.m. on the last Sunday of the month beginning in May (5/28, 6/25, 7/30, 8/27 and 9/24) featuring special themes and items from our collection and files
• June 24 – Badger Creek Ranch tour and program featuring the historic IM Ranch property, native American hunting sites, and wonderful scenery in the northwest corner of western Fremont County. We are so excited to offer this totally new program!
• July 2 – vintage car show around the historic Howard town square, in conjunction with Howard Community Center’s annual Independence Day celebration
• September 23 – Amy Homestead tour (Co. Rd. 4/Howard Creek Rd. in Howard), an all-day open house event featuring historic ranch house and outbuildings, as well as heritage apple orchard, cider press and other activities for the whole family

We also plan to have an information table at the Coaldale Market on Wednesday afternoons throughout the summer, so we hope to catch some of you there, too.

              VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:  If you have some extra time and are looking for ways to get involved, we can use your expertise and assistance in any of the following areas:

• Help set up displays at the History Center in Howard
• Assist at the information table at some of the Coaldale Market days
• Trim weeds and/or water perennials/shrubs occasionally at either of our History Centers (Howard or Cotopaxi)
• Assist with clean-up and maintenance projects at the Cotopaxi-Mullins History Center
• Provide baked goods for occasional bake sales

We always have a great time and learn so much when history lovers get together, so please contact one of the Board members below and let us know how you’d like to get involved.  We look forward to seeing you at upcoming events!

WESTERN FREMONT HISTORIC SOCIETY

P.O. Box 181, Howard, CO  81233

Parkdale   Texas Creek   Cotopaxi   Coaldale   Howard   Swissvale   Wellsville

2023 JANUARY NEWSLETTER

Dear Members and Friends of WFHS,

A new year is dawning and the Board of Directors of WFHS is looking forward to more adventures as we explore local history together.  Many of you had the opportunity to enjoy a variety of rotating displays at our History Center in Howard over the past year.  We will continue to experiment with new ways to utilize that beautifully restored building this year.  

Our newest project is the former Mullins general store property on Plum Street in Cotopaxi which was donated to WFHS by the Estate of Glenn Mullins. We are in the process of converting that property into the Mullins-Cotopaxi History Center.  What a gift to the community, and what a challenge for our little society!  Our heads are spinning with all the ideas for potential uses of that building, but with a lot of volunteer help, elbow grease and the assistance of Cotopaxi High School students, we hope the building will be presentable for public viewing in the near future.  If you happen to have, or know the whereabouts of, any old pictures of Plum Street, the general store or railroad depot, we’d love to hear from you. 

In the meantime, we are planning our programs and events for 2023, including our Annual Meeting in the spring, events at the Howard History Center, and our popular programs and tours of historic locations in the area.  Enclosed is our annual membership form and a self-addressed envelope. Your annual dues enable us to pay our basic expenses, such as real estate taxes and insurance on the Howard History Center as well as the new Mullins-Cotopaxi History Center, liability insurance, website maintenance, printing and postage, as well as incidental costs for producing programs and tours. We appreciate your ongoing financial support; special thanks to those of you who also donated to WFHS through the Colorado Gives campaign that wrapped up in December!  WFHS is an IRS Code 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, so every donation matters.  

Please check our website for fun historic facts, follow us on Facebook, and watch for email newsletters and program reminders. Feel free to contact any of the Board members listed below if you have questions or suggestions for programs, would like to volunteer, or need additional information.  Also, if you are aware of anyone (an individual or perhaps an estate) that has photos or other historic items of local interest to donate, please let us know.  You can also reach out via email at wfhsinfo@westfremonthistory.com.  

Thank you for your ongoing interest and support, and special thanks to all who have volunteered their time or allowed us to borrow items from their personal collections for special events at the Howard History Center. We look forward to seeing you at programs and events this year!

Board of Directors Betsy Denney Craig Leitner Mark Minor Shari Mohr Kris Shurr Barbara Snyder

2020 SPRING NEWSLETTER

Dear Friends, 

                We hope this finds you safe and well during these very uncertain times.  During this period of “social distancing” and “shelter in place”, our Board is just as frustrated and bewildered as everyone else as we try to navigate the current reality.  We decided to cancel our Annual Meeting in March as well as most in-person Board meetings in the meantime, and the programs or tours we had planned for this summer are currently on hold.  We appointed two new Board members, Casey and Debbie Hildebrand, to serve until they are officially elected at our next annual meeting.  So although our programs and tours have been suspended for the time being, we are still active and we want to keep in touch with all of you.

Now for some much needed positive news:  We have completed the necessary contract requirements with the State Historic Fund and the contractor will begin work on the preservation of our historic church/history center in Howard in June!  Completing all of the necessary research, applying for grants, raising matching funds for our portion of the cost, and complying with all the bureaucratic “red tape” has taken many years and lots of patience, but we are finally about to see some results on the ground.  In coming months, you will notice a lot of activity at the building, beginning with removal of the windows for restoration off-site, plus repairs on the siding and trim, foundation, and front porch/stairs, as well as a much-needed fresh coat of paint.  The contractor hopes to complete all the work by the end of the summer, and we look forward to the time we can host an open house to share the results with all of you.  Thanks again to those of you who donated money for this preservation project, and especially for your patience as we worked through the lengthy process involved in obtaining the grant money from the State Historic Fund to allow the project to move forward.

Also, we want to thank those of you who paid your annual dues before this pandemic became our new reality.  Several of our major expenses, such as taxes and insurance on the historic church building/history center, will still be incurred, so we appreciate your loyalty and support during this unprecedented time.

In the meantime, you can get your “history fix” by checking our website listed above for pictures/updates on the preservation project, as well as photos of past tours and events which are now available there.  We look forward to the time when once again we can welcome all of you history lovers to join in our various projects and programs.  Please feel free to call any of the Board members listed below with any questions and comments.  In the meantime, STAY SAFE  – WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU SOON!