ALAMOSA — Valley-Wide Health Systems, a non-profit, Federally Qualified Health Center located in Alamosa, has signed a contract to purchase the historic courthouse located downtown.
Valley-Wide was established in 1976 and, according to its website, currently has a total of 19 clinics located in the San Luis Valley, Lower Arkansas Valley, and Cañon City.
When asked to comment, Valley-Wide CEO Jania Arnoldi confirmed that the organization has signed a contract but declined to make an official announcement until the sale is complete, which is expected at the end of July.
Arnoldi also declined to elaborate on Valley-Wide’s plans for the property. But Rachel Baird, director of Development Services, confirmed that the City of Alamosa had, upon request, provided Valley-Wide with a zoning verification letter confirming the property was approved for “Professional or Business Offices” under the city’s Unified Development Code.
The Alamosa County Courthouse — bordered by Edison Avenue to the west, San Juan to the east and Fourth Street to the north — is considered a landmark in downtown Alamosa and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its architectural, historical, and cultural significance.
According to documents obtained in research for the registry, the building encompasses about 19,500 square feet. The courthouse’s mission-style architectural design evidences considerable Spanish influence, “a legacy of the Hispano population that holds deep historic ties to the area.”
Alamosa was the largest city in Conejos County until 1913, when State Senator Billy Adams introduced a bill to make Alamosa its own county. For close to a century, Alamosa was the last established county in the state until Broomfield broke that record when it was designated a city-county in 2001.
For the first 20 years, Alamosa County was in existence, the county was without a courthouse, due, according to History Colorado, a “massive outstanding debt owed to Conejos County.”
That changed when, as part of the New Deal implemented under the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the creation of the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) made the construction of a courthouse possible.
At an Alamosa County Commissioners meeting held on Nov. 14, 1935, the commissioners authorized the chairman to sign a WPA project proposal for the building that carried a total cost of $35,445. Alamosa’s contribution was $10,328.08.
Construction began in 1936. Originally the courthouse was to be a one-story project, but knowing that more office space was needed, the commissioners decided to add a second floor to the plans.
When the courthouse was being built, the brick kiln located north of Alamosa — unused for 15 years — was reconditioned by the WPA to produce 750,000 bricks, with 450,000 of those bricks to be used for the courthouse construction.
Clay and sand excavated at the site of the brick plant was mixed for the bricks, which, after pressing, were placed in the oven for four or five days for curing. The bricks were then placed in a kiln where they were burned for another 16 to 18 days.
The brick kiln had the capacity of 228,000 bricks at burning, a monumental task. George Hettler, the foreman while making the bricks for the courthouse, died in early January of 1937 before the courthouse was completed.
On Saturday, May 22, 1937, an impressive ceremony took place to lay the cornerstone at the Alamosa County Courthouse, attended by “Masonic dignitaries, city and county officials, and executives of the WPA.” Officials in charge of the ceremony then placed lists of WPA officials, county officials, county employees and a copy of the Daily Courier newspaper in the cornerstone.
The last unit built was the Alamosa County Jail on the southwest corner of the courthouse. The unit consisted of a jail on the second floor with an apartment for the jailor on the first floor. The women’s jail was on the west end of the south unit.
A stunning note in the Register (taken from newspaper coverage at the time) illustrates the extent to which the construction of the courthouse was a collective effort.
The jail unit on the second floor was originally part of the older jail, located on the alley between Fourth and Main Street. According to the Register, the south wall of the older jail in the alley had to be removed for the rest of the building to be used.
Once that was done, on July 8, 1938, “a large number of employees from the WPA” physically lifted the jail unit from ground level to the second floor of the new jail.
By the time the project was completed, the WPA had allocated $39,712 and Alamosa County had contributed $31,149, which included the addition.
In today’s, dollars, that would equal $1,460,509, which would probably not even touch what it would take to actually recreate the quality, craftsmanship and design of the courthouse in real time.
Construction of a new courthouse on Independence Way would ultimately replace the historic courthouse downtown as Alamosa’s center of justice. The courthouse remained the property of Alamosa County until, 80 years after its completion, the Valley Courier reported on Nov. 15, 2018, the property would go to Gilbert and Alice Duran, who placed the highest bid.
Deacon Aspinwall with the City of Alamosa Development Services Department helped locate documents for this story.
