100 years ago: “Grant Sanders is back on the job as conductor of the Southern passenger between Durango and Telluride, after a month’s rest. Forest White, who had been ‘subbing’ for him, will probably take a freight run.”
75 years ago: The Kiva theater was showing “Little Miss Broadway” starring Shirley Temple. The billing read “She’s a Shirley of surprises ... on the world’s most surprising street ... and surrounded by fun-making show people ... she’ll show you the time of your life!’”
50 years ago: “August of this year has been an even wetter month than August of 1911, the year of the great floods. In 1911, the United States Weather Bureau, located in Durango from 1894 to 1912, recorded three and a half inches of moisture for August. W.W. (Billy) Davies, veteran weather observer here, has recorded nearly five and a half inches this year.”
25 years ago: “A proposal to build a new mobile home park in the Animas Valley took off like a lead balloon when the developer submitted to the county planners the results of a bogus telephone survey to demonstrate community support for the project. The developer was seeking approval of their plans to convert the Waterfall Village Planned Unit Development to a 67-unit senior citizen mobile home park. Waterfall Village is in the Animas Valley 3 miles north of Durango between U.S. Highway 550 and the Waterfall Ranch. According to the fake poll, 155 area residents contacted by Circle ‘J’ Enterprises by telephone or in person supported the Waterfall Village mobile home park.”
Most items in this column are taken from Herald archives, Center of Southwest Studies and Animas Museum. Their accuracy may not have been verified.
