Organizations
Collection for organization entities.
Pages
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- St. Joseph Catholic Church (Grand Junction, Colorado)
- The Grand Junction News first reported a Catholic mass in its June 16, 1883 edition. The Right Rev. Bishop Joseph Projectus Machebeuf, first Bishop of Denver, held Roman Catholic services at J.H. Repelyea's building on Colorado Avenue between Fifth and Sixth Streets. Masses were also held at McClure’s Hall before the construction of a church. The July 28, 1883 edition of the newspaper reported that Father R.T. Servant planned the construction of a two-room building for use as a school and a church. The church was built on land ceded by the city for the construction of a church at 3rd Street and White Avenue, a common practice for different faiths in Grand Junction. The February 9, 1884 edition of the newspaper reported that the church neared completion, and the original building’s cornerstone showed 1884 as the church’s date of construction. St. Joseph’s one priest served the parishioners of Grand Junction, Fruita, and Palisade for several years. Reverend William Carr served as the pastor in the 1890's and perhaps earlier. By 1907, Grand Junction’s Catholic community had grown to the point that St. Joseph’s needed a new building. Bishop Matz came to Grand Junction for the new church’s dedication on March 24, 1907. The building was constructed on the same grounds. Father Thomas Conway presided over the church during these years. This building remained the home of St. Joseph parish until lightning struck the steeple in the late 1980’s or early 1990’s. A new church was built on the same spot in the 1990’s. *Information for this description was taken from The Grand Junction News, The St. Joseph Catholic Church website, and from the book "Catholics on the Western Slope" by Rev. Thomas J. Hickey.
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- St. Mary's Hospital (Grand Junction, Colorado)
- A Grand Junction hospital established by the Catholic Sisters of Charity on May 22, 1896. In the 1890’s, Reverend William Carr of Grand Junction’s St. Joseph’s Catholic Church made several entreaties to the Sisters of Charity in Denver and in Leavenworth, Kansas, asking for health services and a hospital in Grand Junction. In 1895, Sister Balbina Farrell and Sister Louisa Madden arrived in Grand Junction to establish a hospital. While Farrell worked with local leaders to plan the hospital, Madden traveled around the Western Slope to solicit donations. Land was purchased for the building at 11th Street and Colorado Avenue in late 1895. The hospital was erected by early March 1896 and opened on May 22, 1896. The Sisters also signed a contract with the Mesa County Commissioners to care for the indigent population, with all but smallpox patients among the “poor and paupers” being sent to them for health services. The new hospital included a vegetable gardens, chickens, and a cow to help with food expenses. Local women were recruited and trained to help with nursing. The first patients were brought by Doctor Gould and H.R. Bull. Common maladies were typhoid, consumption, pneumonia, and injuries from mining accidents. A new building was added, opening on August 15, 1912, allowing the original building to be remodeled. In order to supply the nurses needed for the new, larger operation, a nursing school was opened in 1916. As of 1922, the hospital had been the delivery site for 500 children and had cared for over 8,000 patients. A new wing was added and the dedication took place on January 1, 1924. A cancer detection center was opened in 1945. A blood bank was established in 1949. Overcrowding was such that the Sisters of Charity, the local Chamber of Commerce, and other people in the community saw the need for a new hospital. The new building, known then as the Rose Hill building, was constructed on what had been a racetrack at 7th Street and Patterson Road. Mesa College donated the land to the Hospital for the building. The new hospital contained a radiology wing. The hospital went through another expansion project from 1956-1961. In 1962, they founded a two-year, x-ray technology training program. In 1968, a radio therapy unit was added. They began their school of cytotechnology in 1968. 1971-73 saw another expansion project. An ambulatory care and service center was begun in 1976. A renovation project took place from 1976-78. The hospital has gone through significant renovations since that time and continues to expand. St. Mary's was transferred away from direct control of the Sisters of Charity to operate under a local board of directors in 1971. It merged with Mesa Memorial Hospital in February 1981. *The majority of this information comes from a 1983 lecture by Patricia LeMaster, former Director of Community Affairs for St. Mary's Hospital.
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- St. Mary's Hospital Auxiliary (Grand Junction, Colorado)
- Founded January 1956 with 127 initial members. They volunteer to meet a variety of needs around the hospital: offering comfort to family members awaiting news, making toys for the gift shop, and staffing the gift or book carts. They also serve in a variety of less-public departments: the blood bank, the lab, the escort service, the surgery waiting area, medical records, messenger service, operating room, central processing, and community affairs.
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- St. Matthew's Episcopal Church (Grand Junction, Colorado)
- Part of the Anglican Community of churches that recognize the Archbishop of Canterbury (aka the head of the Church of England) as the prime spiritual leader and are guided by bishops who oversee regional groups of congregations called dioceses. According to oral history interviewee Harriet “Muzz” Johnson, whose uncle Charles William Lyon was an early pastor, the church began its life as a mission and remained so for some time in the early Twentieth century, because it needed a certain number of communicants to become a full-fledged parish. After becoming a parish, the missionaries were referred to as rectors. The church’s original location was at 4th Street and White Avenue. Sometime after becoming a parish, the congregation expanded and the old church building became dilapidated. Under Father King and Father Havlisten, the church chose a new location at 1050 North Avenue, built in 1949. The new location quickly became overcrowded, but the church stayed there for 50 years, moving into its current location at 3888 27 ½ Road in 2001.
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- Standard Chemical Company (Uravan, Colorado)
- A company founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania which produced radium by mining carnotite ores primarily from Paradox Valley, Colorado and then transferring them to Uravan and all the way to a mill in Pittsburgh. It was established in 1911 and then dissolved in 1933 after all its assets had been liquidated. *Information taken from A Brief History of Standard Chemical Company by Joel O. Lubenau, CHP