An unaware driver would hardly know they passed through Breen. The name of the unincorporated community southwest of Durango appears almost nowhere, save for a road sign or two. Even the community building bears no sign with the word.
But perhaps that’s for the best, given the information on Thomas Breen, the community’s namesake, that was highlighted in the History Colorado report released Oct. 3.
Breen was the superintendent of the Fort Lewis Indian Boarding School from 1894 to 1903. History Colorado’s research brought to light details, previously reported following a 1903 Denver Post investigation, of his egregious conduct.
School staff accused Breen of sexual abuse and violence against women and girls who attended and worked at the school, including “very specific cases of impregnating students.”
“It is the scandals and abuses of Breen that overshadow every aspect of the school’s operation and the experiences of the students who attended it,” the report’s author, State Archaeologist Holly Norton, wrote.
Breen was ultimately investigated by his superiors and removed from his post the year the stories ran.
The recent attention that the school and its most notorious superintendent have received has some asking: Will Breen be renamed?
The logistics of such a change would be relatively simple. The community has no municipal government, no post office and the addresses of residents are formally located in Hesperus. By and large, the name is only a point of reference.
Although most unincorporated communities would be renamed by the United States Board on Geographic Names, Breen falls entirely within the boarders of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe reservation.
“The Southern Ute Tribe need only inform us of a name change for the community and the BGN would simply accept it,” the board’s chair, Mike Tischler, wrote in an email to The Durango Herald. “The update to the official name for Federal use would then be made in the Geographic Names Information System.”
Tribal officials declined to comment on whether they would make such a request.
Early last year, Colorado Politics reported that Manuel Heart, the chairman of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, suggested and supported renaming Breen during a BGN meeting.
Since the release of the History Colorado report, Fort Lewis College President Tom Stritikus said students have questioned the name.
“You read the report and you say, ‘how could we have a town named after someone who was so harmful to children?’” Stritikus said.
The topic has arisen during listening sessions with students on campus. Based on those conversations and the content of the report, Stritikus made a concrete call for change.
“Southwest Colorado has a town named after a known sexual predator that did incredible harm to Native American children,” he said. “I think it's time to look history. directly in the eye and change the name.”
Other stakeholders seem on board as well.
Matthew Box, the one-time tribal chairman of the SUIT from 2009-2011, said a new name could be helpful, although he doesn’t see it as a monumental step toward recovery and has little interest in focusing his attention on the issue.
“The purpose shouldn’t be to fix some wrong – that shouldn’t be the focus,” Box said. “The focus should be, ‘We would like to dedicate it in this new era of recognition.’”
With respect to the few people who live in Breen and are involved in the community building, several say their stance is relatively neutral on the matter.
“I have no attachment to the name Breen,” said Mae Morley, the secretary of the Breen Community Building Board. “If it changes, I guess we'll move with that.”
Penny Crawford, the board’s president said resources might be better spent in other ways in an effort to make right on past wrongs, but also acknowledged that the decision had little impact on her life or that of other’s living there.
If the community’s name were to change, Crawford said the building’s board would likely discuss the matter and make a decision as a group.
“It needs a name that simply gives a point of reference that future generations don't find another reason to change,” she said.
rschafir@durangoherald.com
