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Greenland History By Russell E. Higginson
This far I have not said much about the town of
Greenland. It played a very important part in my life when I was a
boy. You see this is the place we attended grade school and became
acquainted with the people around there and several of them are still
around and we see them at times. There were the Higbys, Lou and Carl then a brother
Gene that helped with the ranch and the grocery store that they owned
he lived at Monument. The Killians that lived East of Greenland, she
was a sister of the Higbys as was Mrs.
Fred Noe who lived west of
Greenland. The Bowens lived S.E. of Greenland. Mrs. Bowen was a sister
to Mrs. Babcock and they lived near the Fred Noes. Then there were the
Kinners, the Greeners, the
Allis, the Riggs that had a store across
the railroad, the Romacks. Here I will add a short history that was handed down
to me. Greenland History Greenland was founded in 1872 or 1873. It was laid out
as a 20 acre town site in 1876. At that time, the Rio Grande was going
through from Colorado Springs to Denver. A narrow gauge track was used
until 1878. The D. & R. G. depot was just across the track west of the
present intersection. It burned in 1924. The Santa Fe depot was
located west of the present Higby home. It was town down about 1931. The town was named by Helen Hunt Jackson, an author
and poet from the Colorado Springs area. It is told how she was going
through on the train and noticed how green the flats and foothills
looked, hence the name Greenland. It soon became a thriving little village with three
stores and other placed of business. Charles Riggs was depot agent for
the D. & R. G., post master, and managed a general store. His store
was built in 1896 and burned in 1924. Jack Allis was agent after
Riggs. The Higby store was built in 1907 and operated until 1932. It
is now used as a county road equipment garage. Joe Giles came in about 1859 and had the stagecoach
station. He took part in several Indian raids. The saloon, the
building east of the present Greener home was operated by Mr. Giles.
Later he had the post office. The blacksmith shop was near the present Taylor home
and operated by Lamar and later Burnside from 1890 to 1912. A large
potato cellar was dug to take care of the potato crops raised to the
east of Greenland. Later it was used to store milk for shipping. A
warehouse built by Riggs was bought by Barrett and town down. The schoolhouse was built northeast of the present
site in 1892 by John Geiger. It was moved to its present location
about 1900. Mary and Charles Riggs, before mentioned, were among
the first settlers. Other pioneers were I.J. Noe, Daniels, who later
was one of the founders of the Daniels and Fisher Store in Denver,
Nimerick’s, M.N. Noyes,
S.L. Johnston, O’Brian’s, Chambers, Blodgett’s
and Buck’s. The Blodgett and Chamber homes still stand northeast of
the schoolhouse. While not all of these families lived right in town,
they lived near and contributed to its activities. Some of the old time ranches were Hunt Ranch, which
was assembled by Governor Hunt; the
Greenland Ranch combined by I.J.
Noe and C. B. Kountz, this ranch was also run by a Mr. Kirk at one
time; and the Forbes Ranch. Mrs. Greener, the present mail carrier’s
wife, came to the vicinity as a little girl. Charles Allis and wife
came to the community in 1894. They lived on other places other than
one now occupied by the Alfred Allis family. They built the house on
this ranch in 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Lou Higby pioneers in this vicinity, were
personally acquainted with Mr. Giles, previously mentioned. It is
interesting to hear their story of a trip up Pikes Peak with a team of
horses before the Cog road or highway were built. An Uncle of Mrs.
Higby’s, Sebastian Greenway, helped take the first fireworks up Pikes
Peak to be fired from the top one Fourth-of-July. Pikes Peak is to the
southwest. Fred Noe was born on the Greenland Ranch and moved
with his parents to his present ranch when seven years old. He
attended Greenland School as well as all his children and some
grandchildren. Large quantities of lumber, grain, potatoes, milk and
building stones were shipped out of Greenland. It is said that at one
time there was more livestock shipped out of Greenland, than any other
station between Denver and Pueblo. Two rows of trees may still be seen along the old
wagon road east of town where logs were hauled in to load on the
railroad, to be taken to sawmills. Seeds from pinecones still on the
logs shattered and grew. The story has been passed down that the Nimerick’s had
a daughter who had tuberculosis. To be out in the fresh air, she
climbed a mountain back of her home, now known as Nimerick Mountain.
She started a rock pile on top, putting a few rocks on the pile each
day until there was a marker about six feet in diameter and fifteen
feet high. This marker can still be seen from quite a distance. There is an old wagon road on Rattlesnake Mountain
that was used in hauling out the building stone that was shipped on
the railroad. Spruce Mountain can be seen three miles south-west of
the town. The top is long and flat. It was damaged on the south side
by fire in 1939. Threes such as pine, cedar, spruce and aspen grow in
abundance. Bobcats bear and mountain lions are sometimes seen on
the mountain. There are two caves on Spruce Mountain. A hermit was
supposed to have lived in one of them about 1900. An army plane C42
crashed on this mountain in 1947. Piles Peak looms up to the south-west. Palmer Lake, a
resort town, can be seen from our schoolhouse door. The road that followed the foothills through Larkspur
was improved by paving about 1927. In 1948, a new two-lane highway was
built just east of Greenland. At this time, the road that
followed the railroad to Palmer Lake was abandoned. In the summer of
1956, another lane was completed making a four-lane highway between
Colorado Springs and Denver. It is good to live at Greenland where “purple mountain
majesties rise above the fruited plains.” |
