The History of La Plaza de Los Leones
Present Day Walsenburg, Colorado
The Indian trails which have become Main and Seventh Streets in Walsenburg brought the first Spanish-speaking colonists to this area. Although Spanish settlers farmed the San Luis Valley and Nuevo Mexico as early as 1598, the Cucharas River brought Don Miguel Antonio Leon and his party here some two hundred and sixty years later - around 1860.
The Leones and Atencio families along with some Valdez, Vigil, Trujillo and Medina settlers started this community along the Cucharas River and named it "La Plaza de Los Leones." The Plaza was located in the area of present day Seventh and Main Streets.
By 1866, La Plaza and two other villages in the vicinity, Germanes Plaza and Tequisquite, consisted of around one hundred people. Colonel William's settlement in Gardner, Colonel Francisco's in La Veta and Badito added perhaps another one hundred to the population of Huerfano County, named for the "Orphan Butte" which guided explorers and pioneers throughout the area. La Plaza de Los Leones served as a supply center for travelers and agriculture.
In 1870, Fred Walsen and other English-speaking German immigrants came to the area and made contributions to the economic, civic and governmental life of the community. By 1873, La Plaza de Los Leones had been platted, replaced Badito as the county seat and renamed Walsenburg to honor Fred Walsen's efforts. He served as mayor and engaged in ranching, mercantile, mining and railroad enterprises.
With the mining boom following the development of the Trinidad coal field, which included this area, the culture and face of Walsenburg/La Plaza de Los Leones further diversified as immigrants of Scottish, Italian, Austrian, Slavic, Greek and other origins came to work the mines, raise families and enter into community life.
Countless people have had a part in the building of Huerfano County and La Plaza de Los Leones/Walsenburg - people of differing ethnicities, religions and skin color. They have lived and worked together to strengthen the American ideal that a person should not be judged by external criteria, but by the strength of his or her character.