| Lost Lafayette, Colorado Contributor(s): Conarroe, Doug (Author) |
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ISBN: 1540246124 ISBN-13: 9781540246127 Publisher: History PR OUR PRICE: $36.89 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: February 2021 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | United States - State & Local - West (ak, Ca, Co, Hi, Id, Mt, Nv, Ut, Wy) |
| Physical Information: 0.44" H x 8.25" W x 10.75" (1.40 lbs) 162 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The gold rush of the 1850s turned Colorado's treeless prairie into platted towns with thriving centers of commerce. Lafayette's early Main Street on East Simpson Street was once bustling with blacksmiths, jewelers, retailers and grocers. It included the Lafayette Bank, the Goodhue Building and a movie theater. The epicenter of organized labor's struggle for fair wages and a safe workplace, Lafayette expanded to include Japanese and Latino laborers in the 1920s. For fifteen years, the Ku Klux Klan dominated local politics, spreading fear and hate. From 1888 until 1956, the coal mining industry sustained the town. But dangerous work conditions in the fourteen coal mines took a toll. Flour mills, brick factories and electrical generating stations faded quickly. Author Doug Conarroe recounts inspiring tales of a diverse, austere and doggedly self-sufficient townspeople who challenged the status quo and survived trying and tumultuous times. |