6528 an 1800 gallon tender with a 400 GPM pump stands behind The Madonna of the Trail.  The Madonna honors the pioneer mothers of covered wagon days on the Santa Fe Trail. This monument is one of only 12 in the world and proudly stands at Main and Beech in Lamar. It was dedicated September 24, 1928 by the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. Lamar was chosen for a statue because it was located on the Old Santa Fe Trail highway.  The statue was sculpted by August Leimbach and cast in an amalgam of crushed granite, stone, marble, cement and lead ore. The statue stands ten foot tall and weighs over five tons.

6526 a Type 6 engine crosses Douglass Crossing on County Road 28.  Constructed in 1936 of locally quarried stone by an eight-man Works Progress Administration crew, this filled arch was faced with rusticated stone and features six, 14-foot span, semicircular arches springing from battered piers.  It served as an important crossing for the nearby agricultural community.   The property is associated with the Highway Bridges in Colorado and the New Deal Resources on Colorado’s Eastern Plains Multiple Property Submissions.

6523 a 300 GPM Mini Pumper sits a few feet west of the original location of the old Blackwell train station.  With the westward movement in full swing, township development was extremely profitable along the Santa Fe Railroad line. The most likely site left in southeastern Colorado for platting was located at Blackwell Station, railroad milepost 499. However, the adjacent landowner, A. R. Black, was opposed to establishing a town site. “Platters” threatened to move the depot and obtain title to land nearby. Tensions heated and Mr. Black sought a court ordered injunction. Mere hours before it was issued, Mr. Black was lured to Pueblo for “important business” by a false telegram. That very May evening in 1886 a trainload of men, each paid $10 and promised all the beer they could drink, arrived at the station. Armed with shovels, picks, jacks and blocks, they loaded the Blackwell depot onto flat cars and moved it three miles west, throwing aside the Blackwell sign and mounting the name Lamar, after the Secretary of the Interior under Grover Cleveland.

6522 an 1,800 gallon tender with a 300 GPM pump sits in front of the Big Timber’s Museum. It was originally erected by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company and housed repeater equipment for the company’s Denver-Kansas City long distance lines from 1929 to 1966. Now a notable World War I poster collection is on exhibit, as well as, Trench Art that would enhance your experience after visiting other historic sites in the region that reflect our nation’s military heritage.

6521, a 3,500 gallon tender with a 1000 GPM pump sits adjacent to the 1929 Prowers County Courthouse that serves as the center of county political and governmental activity.  Denver architect Robert K. Fuller designed the elegant Neo-classical building constructed of Indiana limestone.  The entrance and main corridor frieze feature panels displaying carved depictions of the registered cattle brands in Prowers County at the time of the buildings construction.

 

287 is a Type 6 engine stationed at the Granada Fire Station.  On site of The Granada Relocation Center also known as Amache it sits adjacent to a reconstructed guard tower.  Amache’s residents were under 24 hour guard by military police stationed in the 8 towers and along the barbed wire perimeter.  The towers were nearly 3 stories in height, each had a search light and their octagonal shape was unique to Amache.  When authorities deemed that the residents posed no security threat, guards were removed from the towers.  Sentries continued to monitor the main entrance and patrol perimeter, watching over daily activities and religious ceremonies.In the back ground is the reconstructed water tower.  Four 800 feet deep wells provided water to a 200,000 gallon storage tank.  The water was chlorinated for health reasons and pumped into the 25,000 gallon elevated water tank.  Gravity and a network of pipes delivered water throughout Amache.

Engine 6520 sits in front of Alta Vista Charter School which has been named a State Historical Site, and although it has gone through many renovations, the original structure proudly bears the year of its birth above the front door - 1917.  The original cost of the school was $14,000.  The first teacher was paid $75.00 a year to teach 38 pupils.  6520 is a 2001 International Smeal.  Stationed in Lamar it provides structural protection with a 1250 GPM pump supported by a 1000 gallon tank.  Purchased price was $136,823.

6527 a Type 5 Engine sits behind one of 36 granite stones on Colorado’s portion of the Santa Fe Trail.  Stones were placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution.  Placed in 1906 this stone is located at CR 13 and CR 196.  6527 was purchased in 2007 from Weis Fire and Safety.