Nestled at the foot of Fisher's Peak, a volcanic butte on Colorado's southern border, Trinidad isn't the sort of place that you're likely to notice as you whiz through on I-25. Not yet a tourist town, not filled with crowds on holiday, Trinidad's sleepy appearance belies its role as a key player in the settling of the West.
Beginning life as a lusty frontier town, Trinidad was born as a supply depot on the Mountain Branch of the Santa Fe Trail where it turned south into New Mexico over Raton Pass. Although longer and more vulnerable to Indian attack than the Cimarron Cutoff, the Mountain Branch was preferred by many pioneers because it followed the Purgatoire River from Bent's Old Fort and assured them a steady water supply.Felipe Baca set Trinidad on the road to growing into a prosperous city during this period when he led his family here from New Mexico to farm in the rich soils of the Purgatoire Valley.
Following Santa Fe Trail days, Trinidad served as a railhead for cattle drives from Texas and New Mexico on the Goodnight Trail. In what is today La Corazon de Trinidad ("The Heart of Trinidad") National Historic District, Main Street was chopped into a dusty alley by thousands of hooves as the cowboys drove their charges through the center of town, whooping and firing six shooters overhead. Although never so famous as Dodge City, Trinidad nevertheless quickly boasted a reputation as a rowdy cow town. Legend has it that Doc Holliday gambled here with Bat Masterson, who was actually town marshal for a time. Another famous resident of the period, Kit Carson, is remembered in a statue and a city park named for him.
After its heyday as a cow town, Trinidad matured and prospered as the center of one of the world's richest coal mining regions until the 1950s. Some folks say that time here stopped with the end of the mining era. Maybe it's the Victorian architecture and brick streets that make it seem that way.
Trinidad has preserved its history. Stop at the Welcome Center at I-25, Exit 13, at the south end of town, to get a map for a walking tour of La Corazon de Trinidad. Several museums, churches and Victorian buildings await your inspection.
Look up as you walk by the First National Bank. A bank seems like an unlikely candidate for whimsy, but this one has several odd and amusing gargoyles and faces sculpted into its facade. There is no apparent reason for this artwork, except possibly the builder's Victorian sense of humor. Or was he invoking the gargoyle's traditional role of warding off evil?
Continuing down Main Street past the bank, the Aultman Museum of Photography and the A.R. Mitchell Museum of Western Art offer views of life in the early, and not so early, West.
The Aultman Museum of Photography has a comprehensive exhibit about the history of photography, as well as many of O.E. Aultman's photographs of Trinidad and its residents back to 1885. Excellent photographs even today, the images were made on 8x10-inch glass plates. Seeing Aultman's heavy equipment will give you a real appreciation for your pocket-size point and shoot.
Next door, the A.R. Mitchell Museum of Western Art has a permanent exhibition of much of Arthur Roy Mitchell's art, as well as revolving exhibits of several contemporary Western artists. A large gallery, this museum is housed in a former department store. Mitchell was best known as an illustrator for pulp Western magazines of the 1930s. Real cowboys are probably the ones most amused by his idealized vision, characterized by square-jawed men looking intently into the future, wearing bright shirts and brighter 10-gallon hats and holding smoking six shooters, and women who look like they might have just stepped out of a boutique, if there had been boutiques in the Old West.
In the next block east are the Baca House and Bloom Mansion, both National Historic Landmarks, the restored homes of Trinidad pioneers. Hardly grand in today's Trinidad, the old homes are nevertheless still imposing, and it's easy to imagine them as the grandest structures in a frontier village. They are next door to each other, and you can tour both on one ticket. Guides in period costume provide histories of the houses and their families.
Felipe Baca pioneered here during Santa Fe Trail days, and his furnishings were hauled by wagon over the Trail. Frank Bloom settled here 12 years later, after the railroad came to Trindidad, and his furnishings came by rail. It's interesting to see and compare the opulence available on the Trail vs. the railroad. Also on this property is the Pioneer Museum, a modern building with exhibits of pioneer artifacts.
The three-story Bloom Mansion was built of brick by Frank Hough, who owned the Trinidad Brick Co. So far as we could tell, every brick in the streets is stamped "TRINIDAD," a handy reminder should you forget where you are.
From the Baca House and Bloom Mansion, continue down Main Street to the Mount San Rafael Hospital, where you can view the history of Trinidad in a ceramic mural measuring 28 by 12 feet. Designed and executed by Sister Augusta Zimmer, the mural required four years to complete.
Three distinctive churches are worth including in your tour. The Holy Trinity Catholic Church, corner of Church and Convent, dedicated in 1885, combines Georgian and Romanesque architecture in a structure of native sandstone.
The Zion Lutheran Church, on Pine Street on the campus of Trinidad State Junior College, built in 1888, employs a unique Germanic style of architecture.
Temple Aaron, Third and Maple, completed in 1889, is the oldest Reformed Synagogue in continuous use in Colorado. Its brick and sandstone structure is in the Victorian style.
If you prefer to do your sightseeing sitting down, catch the Trinidad Trolley at the Welcome Center, a free 1930s bus that takes you around the city, with entertaining commentary by the driver.
IF YOU GO
Getting there - Trinidad is on the Colorado-New Mexico border on I-25, approximately midway between Denver and Albuquerque.
Information - Write or call
Trinidad/Las Animas County Chamber
309 Nevada St.
Trinidad, CO 81082
719-846-9285
Accommodations - Trinidad is a city of about 10,000 and has a full complement of lodging, restaurants and medical facilities.
Museums - The A.R. Mitchell Memorial Museum and Gallery - 150 E. Main, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Saturday, mid-April through September, free admission.
The Aultman Museum of Photography - 136 E. Main St., 719-846-3881, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. daily except Sunday, May through September, free admission.
The Baca & Bloom Houses and the Pioneer Museum - 300 E. Main St., 719-846-7217, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 1-4 p.m. Sunday, Memorial Day through Labor Day, adults $2.50, children and seniors $1.25.
Trinidad Children's Museum - 314 N. Commercial St. 719-846-7721, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday through Friday, June through August, free admission.
All of the above museums have tours by appointment during the off-season.