This May 1888 photo shows the Gordon House, built on the southwest corner of Denver Street and Baxter Avenue by Miss Lizzie Gordon, opening Feb. 5, 1888, at an expense of over $7,000. Rooms could be rented for $100 per month. In 1886, in her mid-20s, Gordon filed a claim on a piece of land in Logan County that later became part of the Holyoke townsite. In 1887, she sold the land to the Lincoln Land Company, and the town was platted and lots were sold. When she sold the land, she agreed to put up a building, and the two-story hotel was erected, with W.H. Moore as the first proprietor. The Gordon House held frequent balls and lavish dinners, and although Holyoke had nine saloons when the hotel first opened, no liquor was served at this first-class hotel. Later dubbed “The Bee Hive,” the building was torn down in February 1930. — source: Phillips County Museum
Peekin’ into the past
Five Years Ago — Dec. 4, 2014
On Dec. 3, 2013, the Millage family farmstead was officially added to the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation. First acquired in 1906, the 160-acre Millage Farm complex south of Holyoke boasts 21 contributing buildings, structures and objects and has been held by the Millage family for 108 years.
Holyoke School Scholarship Trust has been established as a 501(c)(3) to give more flexibility in getting better investment returns. The goal is to provide bigger scholarships for Holyoke High School graduates. Since Holyoke School District can’t own equities, the Scholarship Trust has been set up to give donors some options for better investment of their funds.
With an interest in the medical field, HHS freshman Cassidy Hale gained valuable knowledge and experience at the Congress of Future Medical Leaders in Washington, D.C., Nov. 14-16.
Ten Years Ago — Dec. 3, 2009
Eileen Rudder will celebrate her 100th birthday on Dec. 6 and will become Holyoke’s third centenarian this year.
Phillips County Event Center’s large meeting room will be named after the Will Heginbotham Trust due to a substantial monetary donation, announced Phillips County commissioners Nov. 23. The formal name of the large room will be announced at a later date.
Colorado’s cellphone/text messaging law is now in effect. As of Dec. 1, law enforcement agencies will be on the lookout for teens talking on cellphones behind the wheel, as well as anyone who may be text messaging while driving.
Twenty-Five Years Ago — Dec. 8, 1994
The lights came on in the newly restored Peerless Theatre sign Saturday evening. And in a special program Sunday afternoon, the property deed to the theater was presented to Golden Plains Recreation Center from Holyoke Community Federal Credit Union.
Brad Perdue is a recent addition to the Tennant-Thompson Mortuary staff, serving as funeral director for the mortuaries in Sterling, Holyoke and Haxtun.
The recent rash of burglaries in Yuma, Wray and Haxtun fit the same style that law enforcement officials believe is used by the man and woman suspected in the murder of the Hinsdale County sheriff last month.
Fifty Years Ago — Dec. 4, 1969
Mild days and dry weather have helped beet growers in getting beets out of the ground and to the beet dump. Warm daytime temperatures have raised the heat in the piled beets, which has caused shrinkage and decay. The beets cannot be moved to the factory fast enough, and the warm weather causes a high heat buildup in the frozen beet piles. Ninety percent of the beets have been dug, but there are still approximately 3,000 acres yet to be dug in the Holyoke area.
Making silage of sugar beets might be the only practical way to save much of the crop that remains in the ground, according to Dr. John Matsushima, professor of animal science at Colorado State University.
Seventy-Five Years Ago — Dec. 7, 1944
A school for the training of civilian pilots in aviation is being established at Holyoke. It takes no great amount of thought to conclude that such a school is necessary if this community is to approach maximum benefits from the municipal airport.
Now that the snow and ice left behind by the blizzard of a week ago Saturday has remained on the ground long enough for us to get a bit tired of wearing overshoes and of walking cautiously, we believe we would appreciate a white Christmas more if in the meantime the snow would disappear and the next one melt as it fell. Some of us are not amphibious or nonskidiverous. “Slide, Kelly, Slide” is not our motto but may be our role (roll) without warning.