History Colorado

Check out the goods Clyde Stanley sold at the general store. Do you see any items or brands we still see on shelves today?

Keota's General Store

Windmill in Watkins, Colorado. Between 1937-2000, DeHarport photographed the southwestern United States, specifically focusing on Colorado and the Four Corners region. Much of his work focused on abandoned agricultural and mining towns in Colorado, as well as landscapes of the state's eastern plains.

Eastern Plains of Colorado, Late 1800s

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. 

People of Keota

What national and global events shaped Keota’s history?

Timeline of Events (1910s-1930s)

Why was the town of Keota settled by homesteaders?

Technology Developments

Engagement #2: Cause & Effect

What do you think is the most important factor that led to the settlement of the town of Keota? Complete the sentence below by choosing one of the 5 options, then explain why. Use the text tool to complete this activity.

Engagement #1: Complete the Sentence

Take a stroll through the town of Keota and see what everyone is doing. Any guesses about what the people of Keota used for toilet paper? Click through to find out!

Consider these questions as you explore the town; How was life in Keota different from life today? How is it similar?


A Day in the Life

Why was the town of Keota settled by homesteaders? Which of the events on the timeline seem like they may have been the most influential in the settlement of a new town?

Timeline of Events (1860s-1910s)

Anything you might have needed--and many things you probably didn't--could be ordered from one of Chicago's huge mail-order companies. Both Montgomery Ward (1872) and Sears (1888) catered especially to rural families. When Rural Free Delivery began in 1896, people living in towns like Keota had access to everything in the catalogs. The average family in Keota made three catalog orders a year, spending about $5 an order. Look through a selection of items from the Montgomery Ward catalog. How would you categorize the items available for purchase?

Montgomery Ward Catalog

How was life in Keota different from life today? How is it similar? Telegraphs were used to send messages in the past, use the telegraph to write your own message to a friend or family member. Explain some of the differences and similarities of life in Keota compared to life today that you've learned about. Make sure to write about at least 1 similarity and 1 difference.

Engagement #3: Telegraph about Life in Keota

It’s flat, windy, and dry--the middle of nowhere. The Eastern Colorado prairies look pretty bleak to most people. But to new homesteaders, they look like heaven. A family can prosper here and build for the future. There’s plenty of land (it’s free--just stake a claim), a railroad, a good school, and a strong community. Folks can support themselves, build some savings, and maybe leave something behind for the next generation. Keota doesn’t have everything, but it has all the things that matter. Freedom. Independence. Opportunity. Community. Those are the blessings that fill these empty prairies.


Why was the town of Keota settled by homesteaders?
What national and global events shaped Keota’s history? 
How does life today compare to living in Keota in the 1900s?

Little Town on the Plains: Keota, Colorado

Geography

Social Studies

U.S. History

General Crop failures in the plains

Panic of 1893 - U.S. economic collapse

Drought in the plains

Return of rain in the plains

Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act into law. This encouraged Americans to move west and farm. For a small fee, any head of a household could apply for 160 acres (later 640 acres) of land. To keep it, you had to live there for a certain number of years and improve your claim by building structures and raising crops or animals.

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Abraham Lincoln

The Homestead Act

The Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad started in 1849 and by 1900 had lines in eleven states. The Burlington -- as the company was also known -- began building a railroad from Nebraska to Denver in 1881. The first train arrived in Denver on this line in spring 1882. 

In 1887 CB&Q added the “Prairie Dog Special,” which ran from Holdrege, Nebraska to Cheyenne, Wyoming, right through Keota.

CB&Q Railroad in Keota

The Keota area experienced its first peak period of settlement. Sixty-four homesteaders proved up their claims: 51 men and 13 women.

This is an example of a typical homestead certificate issued in the 1880s. It was signed by a clerk in the land office on behalf of Chester A. Arthur, President of the United States. It was filed at the land office in Pueblo, Colorado.

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Certificate, David Calderon Homestead certificate

Keota Settlement Period

Henry Ford’s Model T is the American Dream on four wheels. It will take you much farther than a horse-drawn buggy and in much less time. You can harness the Model T’s engine to power all kinds of farm machinery. Folks have adapted it for threshing, harrowing, sawing logs, and grinding grain. You might even see one pulling a plow. The Model T means less work, lower costs, bigger harvests, and a better, easier life. 

The Model T was produced from 1908 to 1927. A more affordable model than previous Ford cars, the Model T was popular with rural communities like Keota and was sold in major cities across the country.

Model T Ford

Homesteading is expanded. Now settlers can obtain 320 acres,  an increase from 160 acres in 1862.

The Enlarged Homestead Act

The telegraph expanded across the United States alongside railroads -- telegraph lines were strung right next to the tracks. This system made it possible to coordinate train schedules and communicate across long distances using Morse Code. 

Left side displays the "International Code" A-Z, 1-0. Right side is a place for battery, a light bulb, next is the contact point used for night signalling on ships, then a buzzer as used in wireless. Parts are held together with small tabs at different parts of machine.

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Western Union Standard Radio Telegraph Signal Set

Telegraph Expanded in US

The first issue of the Keota News rolls off the presses.

Clyde L. Stanley inside the "Wayside Press" in Keota, Colorado. Clyde standing on a rug. Wearing jeans, a short-sleeve shirt, right hand on a stack of paper. Press in front of him, pedal on the floor. Stacked boxes behind the press. Pot-belly stove with a pot of water, covered pot, both sitting on an up-side-down aluminum plate. The coal bucket sits on floor. The door left side of the photo with hanging light blub for light.

Inscriptions; *Stamped on side of box, black ink: "STORE IN COOL / DRY PLACE / PROTECT FROM FREEZING."
*Stamped on box under the above, up-side-down: "Fiberboard Products Inc. Pure-Pak"
*Hand written, cursive, back, black ink: "Uncle Clude, Wayside Press / Keota, Colo 80638 / Dean Hand / 11-1956"

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Photograph, Clyde Stanley, printing on his press

Keota News

The railroad builds a new depot in Keota.

A black and white photograph of the Keota Depot at the Burlington. Stock Yard are right. Wood storage shed and water tank on left. Two powerline poles, three men, railroad cart, wooden barrels, and equipment outside front. Handwritten on reverse side (not shown): The Keota depot on the Burlington. Stock yards to the right and the round wooden water storage tank and well was to the left. The storage tank was moved to a farm south of Keota and for many years could be seen from Highway #14. When we passed there Dec. 2nd, 1981 the old tank had recently fallen in heap. Cream cans at end of depot. Summer 1923


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Photo, The Keota Depot

Keota Train Depot

Keota’s second peak year of homesteading under the Enlarged Homestead Act, which increased the size of homesteads to 320 acres. One hundred and seventy-seven homesteaders, including 28 women, took advantage of an unusually rainy decade.

Text on back reads: "I thought you would like to see my shack so here it is and you can see Keota to the wind was blowing pretty hard see my xxx... Postcard is signed "Frank Trumbo."


Resource Kits

Object Library

Museums

Little Town on the Plains: Keota, Colorado

Timeline of Events (1860s-1910s)

1880 CE - 1890 CE

General Crop failures in the plains

1862 CE

1887 CE

1893 CE

Panic of 1893 - U.S. economic collapse

1894 CE

Drought in the plains

1891 CE

1908 CE

Return of rain in the plains

1908 CE

1909 CE

1910 CE

1911 CE

1912 CE

1914 CE