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Centennial Village - Spanish Colony House
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Replica
During World War I a tremendous labor shortage
prompted the Great Western Sugar Company to seek Hispanic workers
from southern Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico. By 1920
Colorado was producing 25% of the nation's sugar, and 10,000
Hispanics were tending beets in northeastern Colorado. In 1922 the
manager of the Great Western Sugarbeet Factory in Fort Morgan
established the first “adobe Mexican beet workers colony.” Having
workers live year-round near the beet dumps cut the costs of
transporting labor and created an “elite” labor force of experienced
workers.
Following the success of this initial colony, other sugar factories
followed suit. By 1924 thirteen adobe "colonias" had been established by
the factories all over northeastern Colorado. This house is
reproduced from a plan distributed by the Great Western Sugar
Company to skilled workers who were to remain year-round residents.
For a small sum, the workers could purchase a large lot,
approximately 50 feet by 200 feet, in a colony established by the
sugar company near the factory or a beet dump. With the help of
family and friends, they built a two-room adobe dwelling for between
$150 and $300.
In 1924 16 structures were built from this plan in Greeley's Spanish
Colony, also known as Espanola Subdivision, at 25th Avenue and O
Street. (The Hispanic Heritage House next door contains a scale model of this colony.) Furnishings include a popular Hoosier-type kitchen cabinet,
cast-iron range, enamelware kitchen and dining utensils, wooden
wardrobes, trunks, brass or cast-iron beds, and many colorful home-sewn accessories.
The range is often used for cooking traditional Mexican foods such as posole and arroz dulce and
making tortillas at museum festivals. The horno (outdoor adobe oven)
located near the house is also used during festivals.
This structure is a replica of the sugar company's colonia house plan and was built in 1933 by the Weld County Youth Conservation Corps.
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