Quincy’s, Paragon, and Fear: LGBTQ+ Folx Make a Stand and Home Here
In 1979, Paul Freitas re-opened Quincy’s Bar and Grill as Grand Junction, and by default the Western Slopes first ‘gay bar.’ But Quincy’s…
Category: Women’s History
Mesa State College Opens the Closet Door, 1976-1977
In November 1976, the Mesa State Criterion broke the long silence, running a series of articles about Grand Junction’s ‘gay community.’ The articles…
The Closet: LGBTQ+ folx in the Grand Valley, 1881-1976
The Ute people have called this region home since time beyond memory. Like most native cultures, the Utes held space for the gender…
Say Their Names!
Edna Ainsworth was just seventeen years old on August 13th of 1920. The young women had recently had a fight with her sweetheart.…
Bar Fights, Jail Breaks, Hold-ups and Lots and Lots of Booze: “Silver Tip Bess” and “Irish Kate” Two Women Putting Wild Back into the Wild West
Why should all the men have all the fun? Bessie Belvins, better known around the west as “Silver Tip Bess” certainly didn’t think…
Elizabeth Taylor’s Legacy of Resilience
The story of the West is far more pigmented and more feminine than Hollywood or the ‘guns and outlaws’ histories will every portray.…
“No War:” Dissidents, Resisters, and Pacifist thru Grand Valley History
In early 2001, months before 9/11, two young men living in Grand Junction signed up to serve their county, and “get out of…
Why “A People’s History of the Grand Valley”
This project really began in 2006, I was writing for the short live radical paper, “The Red Pill.” Grand Junction was celebrating its…
Meet GJ’s Abortionist Grandma
Marie J Ford was born in 1897 in Missouri, her family moved to Woody Creek when she was a child. She moved to…