COLORADO’S OLDEST COMMUNITY, SAN LUIS
Founded in 1851, San Luis is the first established community in Colorado and exchanged hands between Mexico and the newly forming United States. Today, descendents from the original Hispanic settlers still call this town home. Find out more about the town, and how you can experience its historic roots.
San Luis, Colorado’s oldest community, was established in 1851, not long after the land became part of the United States following the Mexican-American War. Hispanic settlers from northern New Mexico settled this territory. These founders followed a communal way of life, farming and digging the public irrigation ditches that would garner the first water right in Colorado and is still called The Peoples Ditch. A plaque marks the names of all the families who originally shared the commons. Many descents still use this land. They also shared pastureland where livestock grazed. Called La Vega, this plot of land on the southeast edge of town remains in communal use today, making it one of the country’s last two remaining commons. Early villagers also opened a general store in 1857 that, remarkably, is still doing strong business on its original site—in the hands of the same family. Now called R&R Market, it's the oldest continuously operating business in Colorado.
The town’s religious roots can be further explored at the more contemporary Stations of the Cross Shrine, known locally as “La Mesa de la Piedad y de la Misericordia” (or The Mesa of Piety and Mercy). A series of lifelike bronze sculptures are displayed along a path that winds up a nearby mesa to an adobe chapel, La Capilla de Todos Los Santos (or the Chapel of All Saints). The monument is the work of local artist Huberto Maestas, who also sculpted the Stations of the Cross as part of the permanent collection of the Vatican Museum and were presented to Pope John Paul II.
For more information on the town of San Luis and the San Luis Valley in general, visit Slvheritage.com
Town of San Luis Visitor Center
408 1/2 Main St., San Luis, CO 81152
719-672-3002
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