Buena Vista History 101
Articles - Life In BV

by: Cara Russell

The Ute Indians were the original residents of the Upper Arkansas Valley, a nomadic people living in the area as early as the 15th century. Trappers and explorers arrived by 1725. After the discovery of gold near Denver in the 1860s, settlers headed for Buena Vista and the hills to the west. In addition to the potentially profitable industry of mining, those early settlers were drawn by the availability of water and fertile soil, which made farming and cattle ranching possible.

The town was first called Cottonwood and then Mahonville, after the Mahon Family who were early settlers. Alsina Dearheimer, a local woman of German descent, is credited with giving Buena Vista its name, along with its non-Spanish pronunciation of “Byoona- Vista.”

Buena Vista was incorporated as a town on October 29, 1879. In 1880, a vote was taken to have the county seat moved from Granite to Buena Vista. Although Buena Vista won the majority of the votes, with the help of Nathrop, Granite would not release the county records. With a pluckiness that characterizes even current residents of the town, a group of men from Buena Vista confiscated a railroad flatcar and engine and headed to Granite late one night. They broke into Granite’s courthouse, removed all the records they could find, and headed back to Buena Vista. The next morning, courthouse officials had to come to Buena Vista to conduct business.

A courthouse and jail were begun in June 1882 and dedicated in May 1883, a building project that cost the enormous sum of $25,000. That old courthouse at 506 East Main, later used as a school when the county seat moved south to Salida, now houses a local history museum operated by Buena Vista Heritage. The museum is open daily from Memorial Day weekend through September.

Between 1880 and 1885, three railroads reached the town: the Denver, South Park and Pacific, the Denver & Rio Grande and then the Midland. A popular feature of the Buena Vista Heritage Museum is the model railroad illustrating those three railroads and the Upper Arkansas Valley. Restoration of the Denver, South Park and Pacific Depot, which has been moved to McPhelemy Park in the center of town, is underway. When completed, this treasured structure will be restored and furnished to give an historically accurate depiction of the depots of that era.
By 1888, Buena Vista had electricity, generated by a hydroelectric plant along the Arkansas River; telephone service arrived in 1893. For a time in the early 1900s, Buena Vista was the head lettuce capital of the United States, as farmers at the peak of production could make up to $500 per acre for the crop, and the availability of ice from Ice Lake made for easy shipping by boxcar. The town’s “Buena Kist” lettuce was very popular in Pueblo and Denver, and the lettuce business boomed until 1948, when refrigerated railroad cars gave West Coast competitors the same advantage as Ice Lake gave Buena Vista. In 1922, Head Lettuce Day was first celebrated in honor of a successful growing season. Over the years, the event grew to two days and became the Collegiate Peaks Stampede Rodeo, still one of the best small-town rodeos in the west.

*Cara Russell is the director of Buena Vista Heritage and Mayor of Buena Vista.