Roswell Neighborhood Historic Walk
The group takes a rest at the Roswell Community Church where walk organizer Sean Lohman has stashed snacks for the pit stop.
By: Heather Briggs
On the sunny morning of Saturday, May 2nd, residents in the Roswell neighborhood gathered for a 1.6 mile historic walk around sites that have shaped the community, led by residents Sean Lohman and Karen George.
Roswell City, which stood to the west of I-25, was annexed into Colorado Springs in 1880, and thereafter the town of Roswell grew up around the Rock Island railroad stops. The current neighborhood, that lies to the east of the freeway and west of Cascade, was a town for railroad workers. Sean’s historic tour took neighbors over old railroad tracks, past the El Paso Canal, and near the old racetrack and grocery store that served as the hub of activity in the area. The halfway point stop at the Roswell Community Church included snacks that Sean had hidden on the steps so that they would be waiting for us when we walked by. He had large photos that he shared of buildings and maps, and the group enjoyed the rich primary resources he had dug up.
Sean describes himself as a ‘curious person’ and enjoyed combing through the PPLD online catalog and historic archives to find old photos and articles from the area. The favorite story of the morning was about a runaway train car that got disconnected in Calhan, and since Roswell is 200ft lower in elevation, the disconnected car started rolling downhill toward Colorado Springs. Word got out that there was a car full of cattle headed down the line, and the rail workers in Roswell did everything they could to try to soften the blow. The train car crashed, and while fortunately no cows were injured, all of them escaped to nearby Wood Avenue. Ranchers were called to round them up. The wildest part of this story is that it actually happened twice!
Leading the walk is only one of the activities that Sean has helped organize since the Roswell neighborhood started gathering together and formed their Neighborhood Watch program last year. Since then, Sean, Karen, and the other block captains, have hosted social events, started a newsletter, and held a community meeting with District 5 City Councilmember Nancy Henjum and Mayor Yemi Mobalade. At one point on the historic walk we encountered Roswell neighbors who were participating in the creek clean-up. Seeing so many people out taking care of their neighborhood and grounding themselves in the history of the place they call home was powerful and inspiring. It was a demonstration of how activated the Roswell neighborhood is right now and how the neighbors are building social capital by investing their time and energy in activities together.
Sean ended the walk by saying “As we learn about the past, I invite you to reflect on the present and future of our neighborhood. What can we carry forward to help build a more connected and caring community? After all, a neighborhood’s history isn’t just found in its buildings, it lives in its people.”
Sean Lohman is our Neighbor of The Month, read more about him here(Link to the Neighbor of the Month story)!
