Rocky Ford enterprise., 1902-06-06

house and store. and then an adobe hossl.
the present Rockford Hease." sprung up
beside the Santa Ee ,faeh. and there sas
'The Ford and -The Ford S,a,boa," A
main street begun 70 astslops runring
north and south across the track. and
upon . some adobe dwellings, sprung up.
Ina, street ls now N,n,h street Of the
present town OF Rocky Ford. One Of the
oides, dwellings stood on The corner dag
onaliy across from tho aaptss; church.
north Of the present ei;y pafs. ]; ~ss
removed about I've years ago To make
way for tho brick dwelling no~ occupied
by J. r. De~sess
when the pfosefofs o. the ns~ town
ste made their pls; they switched
Main stree; ore b,oes further cas-; and
IN doirg so well nigh created a civic
eruption fatal TO the Hisiai boom Of the
ne~ town. But the breach was some
was duly recorded and new mgniei-
pali;y. bearing tho sar,e name as tho
harrls, at tho river bank. came into es-
isssnea.
In tho fifteen years ,ha, have followed
~a have grown 70 city with abou;
$500 Inhabitants and all the modern Con-
sonienece and sauipfnen, ,ha; character
ise tho up-to-dats Community, We 1--we
In an age Of rapid dessiopnon, and ~o
have caught tho spin; Of 4 from tho very
inception Of tho town While eo'nruri-
tics In tho east that arc half . century
old will hesitate and deliberate about tho
introduction Of igh, plant or q civic
wa:er supply. IN such matters this COM
munity acts. And while ~e make some
mistakes and are compelled 10 revise
some Of our plans. ard pay for tho OK
pcnanee meanwhile. yo; we have tho
satisfaction which comes Of doing things
and Of keeping up with tho procession.
OF our community institutions our
public schools constitute primo in,afos;
and furnish = significant indos Of our
growth. Fifteen years ago small sf.oeo
building Of ono room. situated a, what Is
now the corner Of Ninth street and Swirs
avenue. hold all our school children and
all our educational equipment Blu; better
things were even then in preparation.
Tho Washington school building Of today
was In course Of construction. And
building for. tho 'utse more than for tho
present Il was made building OF six
rooms. But as soon as completed two
teachers were employed In it. the next
year threc. and the next year four. Today
tho little adobe structure has given place
to the tcn-room Liberty school building.
with its high school adjunct, and the six
room Washington building Is calling for
early enlargement, while second sub
urban school Is asked for. A corps Of
twenty -thrco teachers has boen employed
tho past year and will probably be in
creased to twenty-five for tho coming
school year.
or churches. all we had fifteen years
ago was a so-ealled Union church and
Sunday school. carried on in any vacant
storeroom Of the town that was for tho
moment available. II was ministered 70
mainly by any one-lungod preacher Of any
UNCONVENTIONAL stripe who could put UP
any sort of a eredential Of good character
and offer his invalidism as an explana-
ton for stopping over in such seemingly
Goddess community. We were new
community and what we had Of popula-
ton had come without their letters OF
dismissal or much other evidence of re-
ligious affiliation back east. Sunday was
about the busiest day in the week, the
regular weekday business activity Of
the town being enhanced by the presence
Of the cowboy contingent. in from the
prairies to exhilerate. prance their ponies
and shoot their guns along the main
thoroughfares of the town.
To set over against this condition Of
things we have today five wel-con-
structed houses of worship. presided over
/ by regular permanent ministers and sup
, ported by large and devout congregations.
And in addition we have the Christian
society ready with site purchased and
plan prepared for sixth church edifice.
We have an orderly and well behaved
community where with much freedom of
action for all there is common consent in
the wisdom and expediency of a restful
and quiet if not wholly puritanical
Sabbath.
In a manufacturing way the Rocky
Ford of today has modern process
Touring MILL an extensive canning works
a finely equipped creamery, two large
machine shops. a steam laundry, picking
works. and no less than two candy facto-
ries. But the manufactory which sur
passes all others both for sweetness and
industrial Importance is our million dollar
beet sugar plant. an industrial enterprise
that has established the status Of Rocky
Ford as the metropolis of the lower
Arkansas valley.
In merchandise the town has grown in
these fifteen years from two general
stores to half dozen specialized dealers
in all the main lines, with one large de-
partment store covering floor area of
4Oxl65 feet. 1t has eight exclusively
grocery houses As many exclusively
dry goods and clothing houses. 1t has
three exclusive clothing and two exclu-
sive shoe houses. 1t has five well-stocked
hardware and furniture houses. 1t has
five drug stores. 1t has two banking
houses. 1t has three bakeries and five
restaurants 1t has two Of the very best
hotels between Pueblo and Kansas City,
and, alas, it has no less than eight
saloons. It has magnificent opera house
and several fine store buildings in course
Of construction. 1t has three large and
we'll stocked lumber yards from which to,
draw for this construction work 1t has
four very large grain and seed and i'm
plement warehouses lining the tracks of
the Santa Fe, and an immense ice house
which it is hoped at not distant day to
turn into large refrigerating plant We
have three newspaper and job printing
establishments, of which the Enterpres
is the only one as yet equipped with
power plant for driving its machinery.
Its new office on the ground floor on Elm
avenue. half block from Main street, is
a printing establishment Of which any
town the size of Rocky Ford may be
proud.