Celebrate Local History in Walden, CO This Summer

Rodeo Weekend is right around the corner, and with it you’ll find plenty to celebrate all weekend long in Walden, CO. With the nation enjoying 250 years of Independence and Colorado clocking in with 150 years of statehood, North Park has it going on with staying in touch with the past and celebrating our roots as a community.

As far as local history goes, you won’t want to miss the North Park Pioneer Museum. The museum has been a part of our heritage for generations and a visitor favorite throughout Summer. Along with  serving as an archive for everything from artifacts to photographs and local lore, the Museum also works hand in hand with other ways to preserve the past. 

North Park Pioneer Museum: Living History at Its Best

Where: 365 Logan Street, west of the Jackson County Courthouse in Walden, CO

When: Open 10am-4pm Memorial Day Weekend through September, also by appointment. Call: 970.594.4190.

The North Park Pioneer Museum needs to be added to your must-see list for Summer in Walden, CO. There’s no better place to learn all about the area than here! Exhibits and artifacts from North Park's early years and pre-settlement history can all be found at the Pioneer Museum. With three floors of exhibits and two new wings, you’ll find early photographs, family history, and a very hands-on approach to museum curation. Step back into the past with the best of our local history.

Here’s a statement from North Park Pioneer Museum

“The highlight of anyone’s visit this weekend should be Walden’s own hidden treasure, the North Park Pioneer Museum. Since the Pioneer Association initiated it inside of a donated 1882 log cabin, the museum has been through several renovations over the decades, and we are pleased and excited to welcome back our old friends and captivate new visitors with the painting and curating effort that was undertaken over the winter. 

Walk through the rooms of a pioneer home furnished with authentic period pieces from our old local families, belly up to our saloon, browse a replica general mercantile, imagine yourself driving one of our beautifully restored surreys, and chase cattle across the wide open west with our impressively displayed saddles. Wherever your interest lies, our museum has something that will fascinate you.

The thrill of rodeo weekend and the Never Summer Jam coincides with the 97th annual reunion of the North Park Pioneers. This benefit dinner raises a bulk of the operating expenses to directly fund the museum, and generations will gather on Saturday at the school to honor our Pioneer Family of the year, the Rodriguez family. 

So you’d best hitch up the wagon and get your boots on,  this weekend gets real Western real quick, North Park Style!”

North Park Pioneer Reunion “Old Timers”

Where: North Park High School Gymnasium, Walden, CO

When: Saturday, June 27. Breakfast 8am; Dinner 11am.

Each year during Rodeo weekend, the North Park Pioneer Reunion gathers our “Old Timers” to meet up over coffee and a dinner at noon to catch up and reminisce. Old Timers is a celebration of the legacy a family has left in the culture of North Park. 

With a turnout of sometimes hundreds of people stemming from the same lineage, you can see the level of pride these descendents continue to hold onto regardless of how far away they might be from Home. Family members of the honorees can also be seen on the Old Timers float on Sunday morning on Main Street in Walden during the parade.

This year, the Rodriguez family is the guest of honor. Coffee starts at 8am on Saturday with $20 for dues. Dinner starts at noon with a $40 fee for dues and your place at the table. Membership is limited to community members who have been residents of North Park for at least 10 years. RSVP at P.O. Box 503 in Walden, CO 80480

North Park Pioneer Players

Another piece of making history come alive in Jackson County, the North Park Pioneer Players are associated with the North Park Pioneer Museum. They are made of a local collection of home-grown actors, writers, and directors who produce melodramas with western themes for the community. Taking cues from our community’s storied past, the North Park Pioneer Players incorporate old-school local theatre with traditions of western humor and community spirit. Check out their Facebook for more information.

A Little Bit of History to Know

Europeans were among the first to permanently live in North Park all year long, and it came surprisingly late in the game. Indigenous peoples that inhabited this area did so largely in the summer and fall months. During this time, they would have had access to game such as buffalo, deer, elk, and other big game. Winters were harsh and wildlife was sparse. 

Several different indigenous groups did gather in North Park. The Ute, Arapaho, and Cheyenne may have converged in these hunting grounds, sharing the land during hunts in spite of bitter rivalries. North Park was known to early trappers as the “bull pen” due to its abundance of North American bison. Some Indian cultures actually referred to North Park in their traditions as being the place where the buffalo emerged from the earth at the beginning of time. The archaeological record goes back several thousand years with Paleo-Indian artifacts evident in Folsom-age stone arrowheads and other tools.

Some of the last evidence of Native habitation came at the end of the 1870s when Ute Indians being tracked by the US Cavalry after the Meeker Massacre sought refuge around Independence Mountain in the winter. Eventually, they surrendered after enduring extreme cold and lack of food. In the aftermath of the Meeker Massacre, Chief Ouray signed treaties to move his people into Utah. Not long after, the buffalo that once gave “the Bull Pen” its name were in the process of being eradicated and eventually none were left in the wild. 

Early Settlements and the Museum Building

Walden was not the first town in North Park, though it has been the county seat of Jackson County since 1909 when the county was established as its own entity separate from Larimer and Grand Counties. The settlement of Pinkhampton in the north end of Jackson county, just a few miles away from the Wyoming border was the earliest permanent settlement in 1874 when a Canadian trapper by the name of Pinkham built a log house and began living and trapping during the winter. 

Teller City sprang up in the early 1880s as a mining town with a population estimated at around a few thousand miners. The remains of this boomtown are in the Routt National Forest near Rand, CO at the south end of Jackson County. When silver was replaced by gold for the standard of US currency, many silver mining towns emptied out. Teller City met the same fate. As mining for precious metals declined, forestry and agriculture took off. Timber from North Park was used to build the railroads as well as many of the new towns and cities popping up all over the west.

The North Park Pioneer Museum is an artifact itself. Built by Swedish immigrants, the remains of the original buildings were brought into Walden and reconstructed to resemble the stockade style house at Pinkhampton station. 

Exhibits You’ll Find at the North Park Pioneer Museum

You can look through hundreds of photos of the area which offer a glimpse into North Park’s rough and ready history as part of the American Frontier. Most items in the Museum have been donated by local families as a way to showcase their legacy and contribution to the community. Every trip reveals something new to discover at the Museum. 

Here’s some of what you can expect to find:

• Early Settlement Mining and Ranching
• Late Victorian furniture
• Black and white archival photographs
• Artifacts from Teller City, Pearl, and other early inhabitants
• Horse-drawn carriages, sleighs, farm equipment, and automobiles
• Railroad artifacts
• A large firearms collection, from frontier rifles to a captured Japanese machine gun
• Uniforms and memorabilia from several major wars
• Stereoscope cards and viewers
• Early American music and instruments

The 1990 Capitol Christmas Tree

What might have been a footnote in the history of the United States has still remained a big deal in North Park. In 1990, Walden, CO got to celebrate its centennial by providing the nation’s Capitol with a 40’ tall blue spruce for Christmas. At the time, this event was celebrated by parades and a delegation of visitors from North Park who accompanied the tree for the lighting ceremony. Throughout town, you’ll even find benches made from the recovered wood as an Eagle Scout project. A 7-foot totem pole made from the tree’s lumber is also on display at the Museum.

Living History at Your Fingertips

The North Park Pioneer Museum is a favorite of visitors and ranks up there with the Stockman Bar and Grill and North Park Anglers when it comes to the number of people who stop by. With knowledgeable and friendly docents, hands-on exhibits, and a constantly changing inventory of displays and artifacts, the Museum is a great place to peruse the generations that have built North Park into what it is today. 

When you visit North Park, keep in mind the diversity of immigrants, larger than life personas, and the harsh struggles those who came before endured while trying to make a go of life in this sometimes harsh landscape. It’s also a great place to stop and get out of that intense summer sunlight. Don’t forget to sign the guest register and leave a donation! The North Park Pioneer Museum relies on your donations to continue to bring history alive in Walden, CO. 

(Some photos courtesy of the North Park Pioneer Museum)

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