Durango in La Plata County, Colorado — The American Mountains (Southwest)
Main Avenue parade, circa 1932
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 24, 2024
1. Main Avenue parade, circa 1932 Marker
The Utes arrived in the Southwest centuries before Europeans appeared. From the Spanish they acquired the horse, which changed their lives forever. Following the end of the Mexican War in 1848, they found themselves in United States Territory. The Brunot Agreement of 1873 opened the land where Durango now stands to non-native settlement. The Southern Utes pictured here came from the area around Ignacio, their tribal headquarters.
The Graden Building sits prominently at the right. It was the largest Durango department store. In 1948, the building burned. Thomas Graden, who owned the company and came with the railroad, was one of Durango's founders.
The Moments Project is a conceptual public sculpture by Shan Wells, designed to preserve the cultural heritage of Durango, and to make visible the movement of time. A free map of 19 other stanchions constituting a driving/walking tour of Durango may be obtained at the following locations: Durango Community Recreation Center, Center for Southwest Studies, Durango Arts Center, Durango Chamber of Commerce, Durango City Hall, Durango Public Library, Animas Museum. To learn more about the history of Old Durango, visit the Animas Museum.
Erected 2005 by Shan Wells' Moments Project. (Marker Number 2.)
Topics. This historical
this page online
Location. 37° 16.33′ N, 107° 52.862′ W. Marker is in Durango, Colorado, in La Plata County. It is at the intersection of Main Avenue and East 8th Street, on the right when traveling north on Main Avenue. The marker is located on the sidewalk. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 780 Main Avenue, Durango CO 81301, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the American Mountain West and at the Four Corners. Globally, it is in North America, the Rocky Mountains, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: The Newman Block (within shouting distance of this marker); Main Avenue/Strater Hotel circa 1891 (within shouting distance of this marker); Durango skyscraper, circa 1896 (about 400 feet away, measured in a direct line); Central Durango, circa 1900 (about 400 feet away); The Gardenswartz Building (about 400 feet away); The Rochester Hotel (about 500 feet away); Main St., Durango circa 1890 (about 700 feet away); Jack Dempsey (approx. 0.2 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Durango.
Also see . . .
1. Southern Ute Indian Tribe History
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 24, 2024
2. Main Avenue parade, circa 1932 Marker
Looking southwest across Main Avenue.
Excerpt: The Ute people are the oldest residents of Colorado, inhabiting the mountains and vast areas of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Eastern Nevada, Northern New Mexico and Arizona. Contact with the European was to end a way of life the people had known for centuries. As westward expansion increased and eastern tribes were displaced and relocated to barren lands in the west, pioneers began to travel west. Gold and silver were discovered in the San Juan Mountains and the Utes soon found themselves in a losing battle to retain their homelands.(Submitted on March 15, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)The Brunot agreement of 1873 was negotiated with the Confederated Utes and the U.S. government, represented by Felix R. Brunot, at the Los Pinos Agency on September 13, 1873. The Brunot Treaty was ratified by the United States in 1874, and is most often remembered by Utes as the agreement when their land was fraudulently taken away. The Utes were led to believe that they would be signing an agreement that would allow mining to occur on the lands located only in the San Juan Mountain area, the site of valuable gold and silver ore. About four million acres of land not subject to mining would remain Ute territory under ownership of the tribe. However, they ended up forcibly relinquishing the lands to the U.S. government. Many years later, and after meeting with the State of Colorado, a successful negotiation
of a Memorandum of Agreement was signed in 2009. The MOA assured the tribe with hunting and fishing rights in the off-reservation Brunot area, including rare game species.
2. Moments in Durangos history (The Durango Telegraph, 2005). (Submitted on March 16, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)
Credits. This page was last revised on March 16, 2025. It was originally submitted on March 11, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 190 times since then and 85 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on March 15, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
