Little Town on the Plains: Keota, Colorado

People of Keota

previous activity

next activity

A black and white photograph of the Keota baseball team and their rival baseball team. The rival team is standing in dark uniforms. Keota team sitting on the ground in white with "Keota" on the uniform front.

How does life today compare to living in Keota in the 1900s?

Although Keota was always a small town, by 1920 it had grown enough to be counted on the national census, with 129 people living in the town itself. Read on to meet the people of Keota.

Image: Reenactor portraying Clyde Stanley.

Pleased to meet you. I’m Clyde Stanley and I run the store here in town. If you’ve come to make a new start, you’ve surely come to the right place! This town is wonderful, it has all the amenities: fine school, daily trains, a hotel and a newspaper—which I happen to publish—a doctor, and a lot of friendly, hard-working people on a lot of very productive farms. In spite of what you may have heard about drought of late, people here are doing fine, just fine. So, take your time, look around; if you like what you see, come into the store and I’ll get you started on a homestead claim. Really nice to meet you! Hope to see you later!

Image: Reenactor portraying Rose Ball.

Hi! I’m Rosie. Are you moving in? We live over on Roanoke Street in the yellow house. If you’re moving into town, you might want to live there too. Our house, my dad built out of pieces that came from the Sears ‘n Roebuck. On the train! Lotsa things come here on the train, even cars. If you’ve got a car, my Daddy can fix it for you. Really my daddy can do anything! Well, I gotta get home now. Hope you find a good place to live. Bye!

Image: Reenactor portraying Fae Oram.

Welcome to our beautiful little town of Keota! It’s always a pleasure to see new faces. I am Miss Oram and I teach at the new school. I am proud to say that our children receive as good an education here as they do in Denver—better, really. You see, we know all our children quite well, and can give them the kind of individual attention each deserves. You cannot always get that kind of care in the city. Some of our students will leave here to go off to college just as I did, and most will probably return here to live, just as I have. It’s just such a lovely spot, don’t you agree?

Image: Reenactor portraying Ole Olsen.

Howdy! Name’s Ole. I guess you’re new around here, huh? Well, my folks always say it beats the heck outta Norway, but me, I never lived in Norway, so I dunno. Shoot, I never lived anywhere but here! I sure know I like gettin’ out on the prairie though—that’s a beautiful thing from the back of a horse. I could ride around out there all day, every day but there’s the basketball team and school to finish and farm work to do for the folks so I constrain myself. Hey, you lookin’ to farm? Hard work I’ll tell you, but I hear it beats the heck outta Norway!