When early settlers entered the Grand Valley, they saw sage,
greasewood, and a few cottonwood trees. Orchards were planted within
the first year. One of the first established in the valley was in
1883 by Elam Blain and sons along the Colorado River in the vicinity
of where the State Regional Center is now located (approximately D
and 27 1/2 Roads). These first orchards were apt to be haphazard,
with varieties and types of trees mixed. Fruits grown in early 1890s
orchards included strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, blackberries,
sweet and sour cherries, hard and soft shelled almonds, black walnuts,
currants, quinces, nectarines, plums, pears, peaches, apples and apricots.
As orchards became more single-crop, this area was aptly given the
name Pear Park – the name it retains today.
The Grand Valley Fruit Land Company offered 10-acre tracts in
the vicinity of 30 and D Roads specifically marketed for their orchard
potential. An 1890 promotional brochure stated:
This tract of land contains 240 acres, lies three miles
east of Grand Junction and is advantageously located for the purpose
of subdivision into 10-acre tracts, having a good frontage on established
county roads. The soil is a mixture of sand and adobe, easily worked
and very rich. The surface of the ground is level: every foot of it
can be irrigated without extra cost for leveling. Being just the proper
distance from the main line of the Grand Valley Canal to obtain the
fall necessary to cover all of the land with water, the expense of
building laterals will be very small. There are no improvements on
the land.
Adjoining farms are owned by C.W. Steele and E. Blain,
prominent and successful farmers and horticulturists in Grand Valley
for the past 7 years. What they have done on their land, proves what
can be done on this and a standing advertisement for the property.
Water for this tract can be rented at a cost of $1.75 per acre per
year.
Thus, an agricultural community grew up in this area very early
in the settlement history of the Grand Valley. Several residences
in the area date to the 1890s and other community uses such as churches
and schools were established very early as well. The Pear Park School
was constructed pre-1900 and replaced by a new building in 1929. The
latter closed in 1969 but is still used as a day care center. The
Pear Park Baptist Church began serving the community in 1895 and constructed
its first building 1903. The church now occupies a new structure built
in the 1950s and 60s located on the original site at the northeast
corner of 31 and E Roads.
One of the most memorable long-time residents and contributors
to the Pear Park area was Minnie Chatfield. Miss Chatfield arrived
in Mesa County in 1903 where she remained for 79 years until her death
at age 101. She began teaching at the Pear Park School in 1906 and
retired in 1951. For another half-dozen years, she substituted for
District 51’s absentee teachers. She was also very active in
the Pear Park Baptist Church. Chatfield Elementary, located at 32
and D-1/2 Roads, is named for Minnie Chatfield.
Valley-wide, two serious problems threatened fruit production
following the first decade of the 20th century. First, unlined canals
seeped because there was no runoff ditch system; water ran into the
orchards and stayed around the trees, either drowning them or killing
them with alkali. Hundreds of acres of orchards were uprooted. The
second serious threat to fruit production was the coddling moth. The
mild weather in the Grand Valley and a lack of regulations requiring
removal of orchard waste perpetuated the moth problem. In addition,
present residents in Pear Park indicate that in the 1920s fruit trees
were infested with a bacterial disease spread by insects (known as
“fire blight”) that depleted the orchards. Only a few
scattered orchards remain in the area today.
The Pear Park area also grew up around the Grand Junction Indian
School. The school, known as Teller Institute, was organized in 1885
to “materially aid in the civilization of the Utes” and
named after Senator Henry M. Teller, then Secretary of the Interior.
Grand Junction citizens donated 160 acres to the Department of the
Interior. The first building was completed in the summer of 1886 and
30 Indians, mostly Utes, enrolled for the fall term. The student population
soon grew to 144 boys representing nine tribes. The school was opened
to girls in later years. The largest enrollment was 300 students in
1899. Academics were taught as well as other interests such as cooking
and raising stock on the school’s farm. The school closed in
1911 when government policy decreed that Indian education would be
better handled on reservations.
The Indian School land remained idle or minimally used until
World War I when local interest began in a State Home and Farm for
Mental Defectives. Alkali had seeped throughout the acreage and the
Bureau of Reclamation reworked the land before it could be farmed.
The buildings had been well constructed for the school and did not
require much renovation. The State approved the use in 1919 and it
opened with 186 patients in 1920. It was operated as a central residence
for the mentally handicapped until the 1980s; at that time many patients
were moved to group homes. Today the old institute site is known as
the Grand Junction Regional Center for Developmental Disabilities.
(Res. 13-05, 1-5-05)
Historic buildings and sites are scattered across the Pear Park
planning area. These are primarily residential structures remaining
on parcels of land that may have been farms or orchards in the past.
Some of these have already been surrounded by new residential development
and many have already been lost as the former agricultural properties
have developed.
A windshield survey of historic resources in the Pear Park neighborhood
was conducted as a part of this study. Many potentially eligible structures
were noted and 13 structures/sites were identified that will be documented
in greater detail by a 2004 – 2005 historic resources survey.
These structures, listed below, represent the best remaining examples
of the various types of historic structures and sites found within
the Pear Park neighborhood. Photographs of each of these as well as
a more comprehensive list of the potentially eligible structures are
included in Appendix B.
LOCATION
|
|
YEAR BUILT
|
|
---|
Teller Institute
|
|
Various
|
The City of Grand Junction established a local Register of Historic
Sites, Structures and Districts in 1994. To date, and since the majority
of Pear Park is in unincorporated Mesa County, no properties in the
area have been included on the local register; however, many are eligible
for designation as noted in the inventory referenced to the left and
included as Appendix B, most notably those documented in greater detail
by the 2004 – 2005 historic resources survey.
|
3070 D Road
|
|
1900
|
3178 D Road
|
|
1907
|
2990 D 1/2 Road
|
|
1905
|
3117 D 1/2 Road
|
|
1906
|
3080 D 1/2 Road
|
|
1900
|
3085 D 1/2 Road
|
|
1900
|
3095 D 1/2 Road
|
|
1895
|
3168 D 1/2 Road
|
|
1909
|
3170 D 1/2 Road
|
|
1955
|
3046 E Road
|
|
1914
|
3055 E Road
|
|
1900
|
350 30 Road
|
|
1897
|
(Res. 13-05, 1-5-05)
The Old Spanish Trail was an important travel route from Santa
Fe to California from the mid 1820s to the midpoint of the 19th century.
The area that is now 28 1/4 Road and Unaweep Avenue is the historic
site of the Old Spanish Trail crossing of the Colorado River. A historic
marker at that location on the south bank depicts the steep slope
where travelers crossed the river. The Old Spanish Trail is a designated
National Historic Trail. The north side of the river in Pear Park
has no such recognition of the significance of the crossing.
(Res. 13-05, 1-5-05)