ANTONITO — During the Labor Day weekend festivities in Antonito on Saturday, Aug. 30, Natalie Brown with History Colorado was in town as part of the Antonito Community History Collection.
According to Brown, "This is a research project; we are here showing it back to the people and how this unique community collection has developed. The community members were the collectors of this, and we at History Colorado cataloged and processed it. This is a completely community-driven collection.”
Brown was at the historic La Sociedad Proteccion Mutua de Trabajadores Unidos (SPMDTU) building in Antonito, built in 1900. The Society for the Mutual Protection of Workers (SPMDTU) — first founded in 1900 to protect Hispanic property rights and fight discrimination.
The goal of the collection is to interpret, preserve, and share the history and culture of Antonito and surrounding villages. The town has ties to early Hispano settlers and was founded in 1880. New Mexico settlers settled Antonito and nearby communities under the 1842 Conejos Land Grant.
Participants were invited to post their opinions on “What has made Antonito, Antonito?” Answers included: "Chili Line railroad built the whole Valley."
Officially, the railroad was called the Santa Fe Branch but widely nicknamed "The Chile Line," for the ristras hanging on the houses along the line, the railway (later reorganized as the Santa Fe Southern Railway) which ran between Alamosa and Espanola from 1887 and 1941, connecting to Santa Fe.
Other posts included “A generational community with a lot of history.” “Espinozas and Spanish Jews.”
The last comment refers to the early Jewish settlers. According to the Jewish Genealogical Society of Colorado, "When Jews were expelled from Spain during the Inquisition in the mid-1400s, many fled to Portugal, central Europe, east to the ‘New World’ of Mexico, and Central and South America. Around 1571, the Spanish Inquisition came to the Americas. Many Crypto-Jews, as they are now called, moved to the northern reaches of the Spanish Empire, into what is now northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, to get as far away as possible from continued persecution.”
