Mesa County Oral History Project
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Winifred Bull recalls the childhood of her father, Dr. Herman Bull Sr., and his life as one of the original doctors in Mesa County, Colorado. She talks about the prevalence of Typhoid fever and waterborne illnesses in Grand Junction, known among doctors as “Belly Ache Flats” before the advent of modern water treatment facilities. She discusses her father’s medical practice, his love of horse racing, and how he rode his horses to house calls....
Format:
Compound
Levi Morse discusses the history of Mesa County, Colorado, including fruit growing, drinking water from the Gunnison River and its link to typhoid fever, the YMCA, and the creamery business. He also talks extensively about social events such as the Mesa County Fair, and gives a firsthand account of the first motion picture showing in Grand Junction. June Morse talks about teaching at Fruitvale High School, community organizations and social gatherings....
Format:
Voice Recording
To mark the centennial celebration of the town of Grand Junction, Colorado in 1981, the Mesa County Oral History Project wrote and recorded several radio plays about local history. Beginning on September 26, 1981, local radio stations KSTR, KREX-AM, KREX-FM, and KMSA broadcast the plays. Authors of the plays used interviews recorded by the Mesa County Oral History Project as inspiration. This archival recording contains the play Grand Valley Gardens,...
Format:
Voice Recording
Wyatt Wood and Al Look discuss their involvement in the construction of Rim Rock Drive on the Colorado National Monument, early scenic photography of Mesa County, early Mesa County bands and parades, and Wood’s time spent working for the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce. 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...
Format:
Voice Recording
To mark the centennial celebration of the town of Grand Junction, Colorado in 1981, the Mesa County Oral History Project wrote and recorded several radio plays about local history. Beginning on September 26, 1981, local radio stations KSTR, KREX-AM, KREX-FM, and KMSA broadcast the plays. Authors of the plays used interviews recorded by the Mesa County Oral History Project as inspiration. This archival recording contains the play Glimpses of Old Grand...
Format:
Voice Recording
Nora McGinley Flynn discusses her experience growing up in the Grand Valley in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth centuries, her career as one of Mesa County's early schoolteachers, her family’s involvement with the founding of Grand Junction, and her family’s various employment positions with the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and...
Format:
Voice Recording
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...
Format:
Voice Recording
Ervin Ormsbee talks about the history of cherry growing in the Grand Valley. Dick Williams speaks about the history of fruit growing, canneries, and agribusiness in Mesa County. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Format:
Voice Recording
Bruce Howard talks about leaving failed crops behind in Kansas during the Dust Bowl, and moving to Fruita, Colorado to farm. He also discusses establishing one of the first Black Angus herds in the Grand Valley, working as a peach orchard supervisor, working in Fruita’s large cucumber pickling operation, and wallpaper installation.
Format:
Voice Recording
Josephine Biggs discusses her memories of Cross Orchards and owner “Colonel” Bill Cross, horseback riding excursions, and the LaCourt Hotel. She also talks about her work with the YWCA during a time when many young girls were “getting out of hand with all the boys coming home” from World War I, Lincoln Park and Lincoln Park School, her husband’s development of the Lincoln Park Neighborhood, and some details of the home they lived in there....
Format:
Voice Recording
Ruth Tilton talks about her involvement in Tri-M, the Girl Scouts, a bridge club, and other clubs and societies upon moving to Palisade, Colorado. She speaks about skiing on the Grand Mesa with her husband Forrest Tilton in the 1930’s, and about skiing near Leadville. She discusses the history of the Palisade Public Library from its humble beginnings inside of a downtown store, and her involvement in recording and preserving Palisade’s local history....
Format:
Voice Recording
Dorothy (Nichols) Kittle discusses life on her family’s fruit farm on Orchard Avenue in what later became Grand Junction, where Native American boys from the Teller Institute would help with work in the orchard. She also details the achievements of her father and first husband, and discusses other aspects of early Twentieth century life in Mesa County. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County...
Format:
Voice Recording
Craig Aupperle talks about Grand Junction, Colorado’s first cemeteries, funeral houses, and mortuaries. He also gives an account of pioneer funeral rites and ceremonies, including burials led by horse-drawn buggies. He then discusses the locations of early roads, including the Rhone Creek Toll Road from Mesa County to Glenwood Springs, and the Hogback Road to Plateau Valley. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a...
Format:
Voice Recording
Fannie Susman talks about her life managing department stores with her husband Rudy Susman, and about the fledgling Jewish communities they encountered in Durango and Grand Junction, Colorado. Rudy Susman then talks about his many community involvements in Grand Junction, including his role in organizing the Eagles Baseball Club. He also talks about establishing a Jewish congregation for worship with other Jewish families in town. The interview was...
Format:
Voice Recording
Rufus Hirons talks about his education in Grand Junction schools, and about teachers and school district employees (including his father, Walter Hirons). He also touches on the Fruita to Grand Junction Interurban line, sheep ranching with his grandfather, and local Italian Americans. 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...
Format:
Voice Recording
Julia Harris discusses hearing about the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, when she was hosting a Republican Party event for a special congressional election at her home on the Grand Mesa. She describes finding out about the bombing from the radio and from a local telephone operator who called people in the region to inform them. She talks about younger relatives of hers who joined the Navy after Pearl Harbor, about the general absence...
Format:
Compound
Former state and federal game warden John Duncan Hart talks about wildlife management in the Grand River Game Bird Refuge and with the Department of Fish and Game, and discusses the populations and habits of certain bird and animal species. He recounts a run-in with John Otto over orders to cull the bison and elk herds Otto had introduced to the Colorado National Monument. He talks about the painter Harold Bryant, his hunting and habits. He also discusses...
Format:
Compound
Dorothy Tindall talks about the early days of Whitewater, Colorado as a rail center for cattle and stock. She speaks about the administrative organization of schools prior to the consolidation of Mesa County School District 51, her development of Mesa County’s first school hot lunch program at the Star School, games kids played at recess, about her work educating the children of migrant laborers who lived in La Colonia, and her role in the development...
Format:
Voice Recording
Janielle Westermire talks about growing up in Grand Junction, Colorado, where her father ministered at the Handy Chapel. She speaks about feeling she lived in a safe, close knit community, but also about racism she experienced as a child. She describes the inspiring life of her father, Harry Butler, who worked in hydrology with the Bureau of Reclamation before becoming the first African-American school board member in Mesa County and the first African-American...
Format:
Voice Recording
Helen Johnson talks about moving to Denver, Colorado from Cleveland, Ohio at a young age and growing up in different places in Colorado. She talks about the fraudulent land sale that first brought her family to Delta County, Colorado in 1910, and that took her father’s life savings. She discusses living in a rented log cabin in Hotchkiss, her mother working as a hired washerwoman and housekeeper, and her father’s difficulty finding gainful employment...
