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Do you know this place?—Hispanic Heritage Month edition

Colorado’s richly diverse history is evident in the many historic places that we work in, travel by and visit.

Our Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation helps Coloradans recognize our state’s most historically and architecturally significant buildings and places through the National Register of Historic Places and the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties.

We’ll be sharing about these special places in a new blog series, Do you know this place? We’ll quiz you on what you might know and then tell you what makes the place special.

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15–October 15), let’s take a look at this building, originally owned by a Hispano rancher.

Do you know this place?

1.  Where is it?

a)  southeast of Manzanola

b)  north of Merino

c)  south of Marvel

d)  northeast of Mosca

2.  When was it built?

a)  1862

b)  1879

c)  1900

d)  1929

 
Trujillo House before preservation

Trujillo House before preservation

Photo by Tom and Laurie Simmons, Front Range Research Associates
Trujillo House after preservation

Trujillo House after preservation

Photo by Tom and Laurie Simmons, Front Range Research Associates
 

Answer

This two-story log home northeast of Mosca is a rare find. It was built in 1879 when its owner, Pedro Trujillo, began homesteading a mile from his father, San Luis Valley pioneer Teofilo Trujillo. Being a rebellious thirteen-year-old, Pedro decided to build this log house instead of a traditional adobe dwelling.

His father Teofilo, who was born in what was then Mexico, had moved to southern Colorado with other settlers during the 1850s and 1860s. He was the target of violent intimidation by cattle farmers, who killed ninety of his sheep and burned his home to the ground in 1902. Teofilo moved to San Luis; his son Pedro, Pedro’s wife Sofia, and their nine children moved to Sargent, where Pedro later served as a deputy sheriff.

Pedro Trujillo on horseback

Pedro Trujillo on horseback

The home he left behind is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places and received a State Historical Fund grant to help with survey work and long-range planning.

Read this blog to hear the story told by the couple who chose to preserve this unique Colorado treasure and read this blog to learn more about places honoring Hispano heritage and our Heritage Diversity Initiative.

Trujillo House in October 1998

Trujillo House in October 1998

Photo by Rozinski-Shattil