Story By: Matt Majewski, Housing Editor
Photos by: Riley Simianer
On May 2, 2023, the Historical Preservation Board held their monthly city council meeting. In the meeting the board discussed re-submitting the Teller Institute, the Beehive Structure, their April event, and they also planned an upcoming possible May event.
To kick off the meeting, members of the board discussed their previous event that they held in Loma, Colorado. The event was held at a school in Loma that hasn’t been used in nearly 40 years. At the event, several history organizations from around the Grand Valley had tables to inform the public.
“We had this big event, and we thought we would have 100 people, and I think we ended up with 600 people,” board member Dave Fishell said. “The Mesa County Historical Society is kind of rejuvenated, they elected new officers late last fall, and they’re starting to do more events, and we had quite a few different organizations there.”
While each organization had many different presentations and members available, the board believed the reason why the event was so big was because of the location. Several people at the event came up to board members and would tell them they haven’t been inside the school since the 1940s.
With the momentum of the April event, the Historical Preservation Board began planning an event to take place this May. The board discussed having an event around Grand Junction, exploring some of the different history landmarks around the town to show the history of the city through the decades.
In addition to discussing events, the board also discussed resubmitting the Teller Institute. The Teller Institute is a historical area of Grand Junction. Originally, the area was used as a school for Native Americans. At the school, Native Americans were taught things to assimilate them into society.
Later in the Teller Institute History, the school was changed to a farm school. At the school, young students were put to labor, and worked grueling hours. After the school was shut down in 1910, all the history and records were sent to a city in Kansas, where everything unfortunately got burnt down, leaving historians clueless.
As controversial as the area is, it is truly an historic part of Grand Junction.
“[By re-submitting the Teller Institute] it can be listed as a place of imminent danger so that it can have more recognition as an important cultural, architectural, and historical site. It is at risk of falling into disrepair so much that there is no escaping it,” board member Sidney Wood said.
To conclude the meeting, the board discussed something called the Beehive Structure. The structure was originally used as a tiny convenient store, shaped like a honeycomb. However, after the store was shut down, the structure was moved to a former board members backyard.
“In order to keep it semi-historic in its appearance we would need to get it approved by the city. We want to put a plaque on it, and have it somewhere in the public so people could view it,” board member Vida Jaber said.
The next Historical Preservation city council meeting will take place on June 6. If the board hosts a May event, the information will be posted on the Visit Grand Junction event calendar
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