Hayden Heritage Center Museum & Research Library

06/19/2026

Juneteenth is one of the oldest commemorations of the end of slavery in the United States. It marks June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and issued General Order No. 3, enforcing the Emancipation Proclamation at the end of the Civil War.

Within the National Park Service, Juneteenth helps connect this history to places and stories preserved across the National Park System that interpret emancipation, Reconstruction, and the broader struggle for civil rights.

Learn more about the history of Juneteenth at: https://www.nps.gov/articles/juneteenth-origins.htm

Image: The African American Civil War Memorial in Washington, D.C.

06/19/2026

06/18/2026

Dino Dig with the City of Steamboat Summer Recreation kids at the Hayden Heritage Center Museum & Research Library today! Teachers, kids and museum volunteers were all wonderful!!

06/18/2026

06/17/2026

Excited to announce that the Hayden Heritage Center has been awarded a Colorado State Historic Fund grant for structural stabilization and interior rehabilitation of our historic building the Hayden Depot!

06/17/2026

I recently posted that the Caesar Rodney statue was placed at Freedom Plaza in Washington DC along with 12 other Revolutionary War patriots. I said I would post about them also. Most are lesser known. Their commitment to fight for freedom is inspiring.

One of these 12 statues salute Salem Poor. Salem Poor was born into slavery in Massachusetts. He purchased his own freedom in 1769 for £27 (the equivalent of roughly $8,600 today) and, six years later, joined the Massachusetts minutemen.

He fought at Bunker Hill and is credited with killing British Lieutenant Colonel James Abercrombie. When patriot soldiers were forced to retreat, Salem Poor was one of those who volunteered to cover the retreat, risking capture and death to ensure that his comrades escaped to safety. He was the only soldier present whom patriot officers singled out for commendation.

Poor continually reenlisted with the Continental Army, serving until 1780. He fought in the Battles of Saratoga and Monmouth and camped with Washington at Valley Forge. In 1975, ahead of America’s bicentennial celebration, his likeness was included on a commemorative postage stamp.

06/16/2026

06/16/2026

Tuesday Tidbits - Your tidbit of Hayden and West Routt County history on Tuesday morning.

Hayden Concrete, Gas & Electric Company / Hayden Light & Power Company / Hayden Milling and Power Company.

In September 1909, the Peter J. Hofstetter family came to Hayden and intended to build and open the Hayden Inn. The Hayden Concrete company whose principal owners were Ed Miles, Norris Brock, James Wadge and David Flitner incorporated in August 1910. They convinced Pete and Melvin Hofstetter to join them in the making of cement blocks which would be used to build the Hayden Inn.

The cement block business did not prove profitable. The company was opened up to more stockholders, but still failed to make the profit they were expecting. The next summer, George Watson, an electrical engineer who had secured the franchise to supply Hayden with electricity, needed a place for his electric plant and convinced the Concrete Company to share with them and build the necessary room to install the boiler, engine and generator. This addition formed the Hayden Concrete, Gas and Electric Company. Melvin Hofstetter was the “right hand man” to the electrical engineer, Chester Terry, whom Watson had hired to install all of the equipment lines, transformers and wire the homes of Hayden. The first steam boiler arrived by a team of horses and by early winter 1910, the power plant was operating! Melvin Hofstetter was named the operator. The stockholders began to see more of a profit, however, by December 1916, things were changing and the corporation was dissolved.

In December 1916, Pete and Melvin Hofstetter purchased the electric plant and it became known as Hayden Light and Power Company. Melvin took the lead on the business as he doubled as the Hayden town marshal. They sold off the Concrete Machinery and stuck with the light and power business. In the Spring of 1918 Midget Marvel Mill from Kentucky arrived to install a flour mill to grind and manufacture Flavo Flour. Flavo Flour had a national reputation as a very excellent grade flour produced only with these special mills. Many flour mills throughout the valley were Flavo Flour mills. The same engines which ran the light plant were now used to mill flour. The new mill began with the name Hofstetter & Sons.
By August 1920, dad Peter, and brother Melvin, sold their interests in the business to Henry Summer (who owned a barber shop in town) and Earl Marvin. Thus the brothers Roy & Henry Hoffstetter and Summer & Marvin now owned the business and the named changed once again to the Hayden Milling and Power Company. Part of the deal also included the purchase of 100 acres of state land and a hog business. The hog business was a fine fit as they were able to use some of the by-products of the mill. At this point, the mill was keeping three to five men busy and was being run day and night to keep up with the flour orders!

Earl Marvin’s health forced him to give up the business in January 1925 and he sold his interest back to Melvin Hofstetter leaving the brother once again running the business. In 1926, Colorado Utilities bought the company (along with all other electric plants in Routt County in anticipation of moving to one central power plant) and moved their business from the mill into a room at the Yampa Valley Bank on Walnut street. Melvin Hofstetter then became the office manger there. This brought an end to the flour milling business for about a year.

In November 1927, Colorado Utilities leased the flour mill back to John Goess, an experienced miller from Craig. Once again, Hayden had flour made at home. However, just about eighteen month later, on June 30, 1929, the largest fire in Hayden’s history occurred resulting in the plant burning to the ground. The mill, flour, grains, sacks, salt and all of the copper in the business were a total loss figuring at $30,000 and the end of the era of this large business in Hayden history which stood at the corner on Poplar Street.

Stay tuned for our next Tuesday Tidbit.
Visit the Hayden Heritage Museum at 300 W. Pearl Street in the Old Depot
P.O. Box 543, Hayden Co 81639
(970)276-4380
[email protected]
https://www.haydenheritagecenter.org/

We’d love to hear your memories and Feedback on our Tuesday Tidbits! Have an idea for a Tuesday Tidbit… or want to hear more about something… don’t hesitate to let us know by commenting below or emailing us!

06/15/2026

In the autumn of 1797, a new warship slid into Boston Harbor.

The United States was barely two decades old. The Navy was younger still. Surrounded by powerful European empires and facing threats from pirates and hostile fleets, the young republic needed ships capable of defending its interests across the Atlantic.

One of those ships was USS Constitution.

Built from massive live oak and white oak timbers and fastened together with copper bolts, she was unlike most warships of her era. Her hull was extraordinarily strong, with some sections approaching two feet in thickness. The timber used in her construction had been carefully selected and seasoned for years before a single plank was laid.

The result was a vessel that combined durability with remarkable speed.

During her early years, Constitution patrolled the Caribbean, crossed the Atlantic, and fought in the First Barbary War against the pirates of North Africa. She quickly earned a reputation as one of the finest frigates afloat.

But it was the War of 1812 that transformed her into a legend.

On August 19, 1812, Constitution encountered the British frigate HMS Guerriere in the North Atlantic. The two ships closed and opened fire.

The battle lasted little more than half an hour.

When it ended, Guerriere was a wreck.

Her masts had fallen.

Her hull was shattered.

She was so badly damaged that the British were forced to abandon and burn her.

During the engagement, sailors reportedly watched British cannonballs strike Constitution's thick oak hull and bounce harmlessly away. According to tradition, one astonished sailor exclaimed that her sides seemed to be made of iron.

The nickname stuck.

Old Ironsides.

Over the next months, Constitution won additional victories against British warships, becoming a symbol of American resilience and naval skill. In a war where victories were often scarce, her triumphs electrified the nation.

Yet by 1830, the famous frigate faced a new threat.

Time.

Naval technology had advanced rapidly, and officials declared the aging ship unfit for service. Plans were drawn up to dismantle her.

Then public outrage erupted.

A young poet named Oliver Wendell Holmes read the news and responded with a poem titled "Old Ironsides." Published across the country, it inspired a wave of public support. Citizens demanded the ship be saved.

The Navy listened.

Constitution was preserved.

Then restored.

And restored again.

Schoolchildren donated pennies to help fund repairs in the 1920s. Craftsmen replaced damaged timbers while preserving as much original material as possible. Generations of Americans came to see the ship not merely as a vessel, but as a national treasure.

Today, USS Constitution remains afloat in Boston's Charlestown Navy Yard.

She is not a replica.

She is not a reconstruction.

She is the actual ship launched in 1797.

More than two centuries after her first voyage, she still carries a commissioned crew, still flies the American flag, and remains the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world.

The ship that survived enemy cannon fire nearly met its end at the hands of bureaucracy.

Instead, she endured.

And Old Ironsides is still here.

06/14/2026

Getting ready for the Talk w Kirk Zabel on Coal Mining in Routt Co at the Granary starting at 10 am followed by the walk