And the West is History: Fairgrounds Horse Stall Removal – 1999

In the midst of the Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration constructed a new entryway, ticket booths, grandstands, horse stalls and caretaker’s house for the La Plata County Fairgrounds along Main Avenue between 25th and 27th streets. Using thousands of large sandstone blocks quarried from Horse Gulch, workers built the 600-foot-long grandstand that could seat more than 7,000 spectators for rodeos, horse races, football games and various other events. The horse stalls were created with the sandstone blocks and adobe bricks. Seen here, the horse stalls are being removed in 1999 as the county and city agreed to repurpose most of the area for ball fields and a recreation center. Many of the sandstone blocks were used to re-construct a smaller rodeo arena and grandstand on the eastern portion of the complex. – Ed Horvat for Animas Museum, edhorvat@animasmuseum.org (Courtesy of La Plata County Historical Society)