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Palmer Lake Historical Society, Nov. 21 – Life of town hero explored

By Marlene Brown

The Palmer Lake Historical Society (PLHS) held its monthly membership meeting at the Palmer Lake Town Hall on Nov. 21. The program was presented by Jim Sawatzki, past president of PLHS and author and filmmaker through his company Palmer Divide Productions. He is producer and director of several historical documentaries including General Palmer, Village on the Divide, and Above and Beyond, a biographical documentary and interview with William “Bill” Crawford. See https://.pcisys.net/-pdpmark/index.html. Information on the William J. Crawford Memorial is posted at https://palmerdividehistory.org/crawford-memorial/.

If you have ever driven down Highway 105 between Monument and Palmer Lake and have seen the sign along that stretch of the highway that has been named the William J. Crawford Highway and wondered who he was, you would find out that we had a WWII hero living among us in the Palmer Lake. He was born May 19, 1918 in Pueblo and joined the U.S. Army in 1943, as a private with the 142nd Infantry Regiment 36th Infantry Division and deployed to Southern Italy.

Above: William J. Crawford, resident of Palmer Lake and WWII recipient of Presidential Medal of Honor. Photo courtesy wikipedia.com

On the day he was acting as squad scout, his squad was attacked and Crawford twice moved forward through continuous machine gun fire, using hand grenades and his rifle and destroyed the machine gun nests, and his platoon was able to advance. After the battle, he was captured by the Germans and presumed dead. His father was presented the Medal of Honor posthumously in 1944. Later that year, Crawford was among the soldiers rescued from German captivity. (Wikipedia.org)

He was married to Ellen Bruce in 1946, re-enlisted in the Army and retired in 1967 with the rank of master sergeant. He and his wife moved to Palmer Lake until their passing. Crawford died March 15, 2000. During retirement, he helped found Palmer Lake VFW Post 3915 and was on the Board of Directors of the Lucretia Vaile Museum, which is now operated by PLHS. He worked as a janitor at the Air Force Academy for years, with no one knowing that he was a Medal of Honor recipient.

It wasn’t until 1976, when one of the cadets read Crawford’s name in a history book they were studying about WWII battles, that he openly talked about his life. After some coaxing, the awestruck cadets were able get him to tell them his story. In 1984, during graduation, the faculty and students arranged for President Reagan to present him his Medal of Honor in person four decades after he was first awarded it. See warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/william-crawford-quiet-hero.html.

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The Palmer Lake Historical Society is a nonprofit 501(C)(3) and holds regular meetings at the Townhall, 42 Crescent Valley St., Palmer Lake, on the third Thursday of the month. Membership information and future presentations can found at palmerdividehistory.org.

There is no meeting in December. The next meeting will be Jan. 16 with the Annual Historical Society Pot Luck Supper and Membership Drive. Members will elect officers for 2025.

Marlene Brown can be reached at marlenebrown@ocn.me.

Other Palmer Lake Historical Society articles

Palmer Lake Historical Society, Oct. 17 – How the star and Town Hall became historic places

By Marlene Brown

The Palmer Lake Historical Society (PLHS) held its monthly membership meeting at the Palmer Lake Town Hall on Oct. 17. Longtime resident of the Palmer Divide area and friend of the PLHS Jack Anthony, and his wife Margo, explained how they were able to get the Palmer Lake Star and the Palmer Lake Town Hall placed on the Register of Historic Places on behalf of PLHS.

The Colorado State Register program is administered by the Office of Archeology and Historic preservation within History Colorado, which maintains the official list of historic properties. See historycolorado.org/Colorado-state-register-historic-properties.

The Palmer Lake Star

First they applied to have the Palmer Lake Star be accepted and then the Town Hall. The Town of Palmer Lake, the owner of the star, and Mayor Nikki McDonald consented to have Jack Anthony apply to History Colorado in October 2012, and the application was approved by the Review Board in January 2013.

The star was constructed in 1935. It took three months initially to build by several volunteers including Gilbert Wolf, Floyd Bellinger, George Sill, and Jesse Krueger and sons Orville, Kenny and Harry. After many tries and work-arounds with the technology of the day, the star was lit in mid-December 1935 and every year since from Dec. 1 to Jan. 1 and on special occasions.

The Krueger sons were tasked every year to hike up Sundance Mountain where the star resides and change burned-out lightbulbs. Later the Volunteer Fire Department took on the maintenance of the star and now holds a chili supper fundraiser the Saturday after Thanksgiving at the Town Hall to raise money for replacing wires and poles as needed. The star has been viewed and enjoyed by travelers between Denver and Colorado Springs.

Palmer Lake Town Hall

Palmer Lake was established in 1883 and was a stop for the railroads to load with supplies and water for continuing on to Denver or Colorado Springs. The Town Hall was built in 1914 and has gone through some renovations to bring the electrical and plumbing to code over the years, but the town has kept the original design in place. It has been home to the Yule Log Celebration every year since 1933. The celebration has become a community tradition and keeps the history alive. See townofpalmerlake.com for this year’s information.

Jack Anthony applied May 31, 2019 to History Colorado have the Town Hall be placed on the Register of Historic Properties, and that was approved Sept. 25, 2019. See historycolorado.org/Colorado-state-register-historic-properties. Upon approval, the town became eligible to apply for grants for maintenance and upgrades.

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PLHS is a nonprofit 501C3 and holds regular meetings at the Town Hall, 42 Crescent Valley St., Palmer Lake, on the third Thursday of the month. Membership information and future presentations can found at palmerdividehistory.org.

Marlene Brown can be reached at marlenebrown@ocn.me.

Other Palmer Lake Historical Society articles

Palmer Lake Historical Society, Sep. 19 – Author focuses on Old West

 By Marlene Brown

The Palmer Lake Historical Society (PLHS) monthly membership meeting at the Palmer Lake Town Hall on Sept. 19 featured guest speaker Mike Torreano, presenting an author’s talk titled Cowboy Stories. Torreano has a military background, and his focus is on American history and the Old West. His most recent book, Fireflies at Dusk, was released in November 2023 and is set during the Civil War era—a time when the Old West did not have any laws, just the Code of the West.

Torreano has won two Firebird Book awards for Western fiction and historical fiction. He has taught journalism and English at the Air Force Academy and the University of Colorado.

His traditional Western style is inspired by Zane Grey’s books that he began reading in the fifth grade. He said he has always loved the cowboy life. He tries to write his stories with the Code of the West in mind. Some of the code values are:

  • Doing what’s right.
  • Taking responsibility for one’s actions.
  • Working hard.
  • Showing respect.

The Old West is a culture. As Tom Mix, a silent-film actor from the early 1900s, said, “The Old West is not a certain place, in a certain time, it’s a state of mind. It’s whatever you want it to be.” Learning to live a life according to the Code of the West can surely help many learn that there are consequences to one’s actions.

There was a lively discussion of the TV shows, films, books, and songs that have come from the Old West with a question at the end: What can you do to keep the values of the Old West alive?

Above: Mike Torreano, winner of two Firebird Book awards for Western fiction and historical fiction , gives a talk at a Palmer Lake Historical Society meeting. He has taught English and journalism at the Air Force Academy and the University of Colorado. Photo by Marlene Brown.

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The Palmer Lake Historical Society is a nonprofit 501C3 and holds regular meetings on the third Thursday of the month. Membership information and future presentations can be found at palmerdividehistory.org

Marlene Brown can be reached at marlenebrown@ocn.me.

Other Palmer Lake Historical Society articles

Palmer Lake Historical Society, June 6 – Book launch

By Marlene Brown

The Palmer Lake Historical Society (PLHS) introduced its newest book on June 6: The U.S. Forest Service Monument Nursery, 1907-1965, written by Dan Edwards and published by the PLHS.

Edwards, local resident and historian, explained how the U.S. Forest Service conducted its work for almost 60 years on what is known as National Forest Monument Preserve (Mount Herman). Millions of ponderosa pine saplings were started in the area and shipped to be planted where trees were cut down during the building of the Western expansion of the United States.

Above: Author Dan Edwards at the June 6 PLHS book launch. Photo by Steve Pate

Copies of the book are available at Covered Treasures in Monument. For more information, see palmerdividehistory.org.

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PLHS meetings are usually on the third Thursday of the month at Palmer Lake Town Hall, 42 Valley Crescent, 7-8 p.m. (doors open at 6:30 p.m.). For more information about future presentations and membership, go to www.palmerdividehistory.org.

Marlene Brown can be contacted at marlenebrown@ocn.me.

Other Palmer Lake Historical Society articles

Palmer Lake Historical Society, May 18 – Colorado’s Rosie the Riveter

By Marlene Brown

Above: Gail Beaton Photo by Marlene Brown.

The Palmer Lake Historical Society (PLHS) welcomed Gail Beaton, humanities and historical author who portrayed in Chautauqua-style Gail Murphy: Colorado’s Rosie the Riveter May 16 at the Palmer Lake Town Hall. Beaton had the audience riveted to their seats during her lively performance of a young woman working in factories during World War II. Supporting the war effort and their families, women worked in factories making bullets, guns, and other ammunition.

“Rosie the Riveter” was the name that was given to the thousands of women working the factories as welders, airplane builders, and mechanics. Many women had never worked outside the home, but with a lot of the men away to war the government asked up to 6 million women to fill the jobs that needed to be done.

Beaton’s book Colorado Women in World War II interweaves nearly 80 oral histories—including interviews, historical studies, newspaper accounts, and organizational records—and historical photographs (many of the interviewees themselves) to shed light on women’s participation in the war, exploring the dangers and triumphs they felt, the nature of their work, and the lasting ways in which the war influenced their lives.

Beaton offers a new perspective on World War II—views from field hospitals, small steel companies, ammunition plants, college classrooms, and sugar beet fields—giving a rare look at how the war profoundly transformed the women of this state and will be a compelling new resource for readers, scholars, and students interested in Colorado history and women’s roles in World War II. See Beaton’s website for more information on this book and her other historical books regarding women in Colorado: www.gailbeaton.com.

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On June 6 at 7-8:30 p.m. at the Palmer Lake Town Hall, the PLHS will host a book launch on its newest publication: The U.S. Forest Service Monument Nursery, 1907-1965 by author Dan Edwards. He will give an illustrative talk about the history of the Monument Nursery and the background and the story about why the book was written.

PLHS meetings are usually on the third Thursday of the month at Palmer Lake Town Hall, 42 Valley Crescent, 7-8 p.m. (doors open at 6:30 p.m.). For more information about future presentations and membership, go to www.palmerdividehistory.org.

Marlene Brown can be reached at marlenebrown@ocn.me.

Other PLHS columns