People

: William Clarence Kurtz; The millionaire and owner of lumber yards in Montrose and Grand Junction, Colorado, including the Independent Lumber Company, in the early to mid-Twentieth century. Along with Clyde Biggs, he purchased and first developed the land just east of 12th Street and south of Lincoln Park in what was known as the Lincoln Park Addition. He and his wife Edna located their home at 1259 Gunnison Avenue, across from the then Mesa County Fairgrounds (now Lincoln Park). According to William C. Rump, he was also one of the builders of the Grand Junction Country Club in the Redlands (which became the Redlands Community Center).

: William Claybaugh; Early Palisade, Colorado doctor. Member of the Mesa County Medical Society.

: William David Jones; He was born in New York and grew up on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. He came to Grand Junction, Colorado in 1883, not long after the town’s founding. He was sixteen. He became a locomotive engineer and later a railroad inspector.

: William Davidson Sr.; Early resident of Crested Butte, Colorado. Died in the Jokerville Mine Explosion on January 24, 1884.

: William E. "Ben" Smith; He was born in Illinois to William H. Smith and Sarah (Jones) Smith in Illinois. His father was a freighter. His mother was a homemaker. The US Census shows that the family was living in Saguache, Colorado by 1880, when William was three. He married Jessie Stanton in Collbran, Colorado in 1909. By 1910, they were living in Grand Junction, where the census lists his occupation as cowboy. In 1920, he lived with his family in Riverton, Wyoming, where he was a teamster. He later owned an automotive garage in Loma, Colorado in the 1920’s and 30’s. The garage opened in 1924. Around that time, he was helping to drill an oil well near Loma and had his leg cut off in an accident. He also served as the substitute bus driver for his son-in-law, Wilbur Downey.

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