"A Look Back"

The Stories presented here are about people and events during the early days when this corner of Colorado was first settled.

595 Colorado Street
By Dan Davidson

The house located at 595 Colorado Street stands as an example of faith and determination held by two of Craig’s early residents.

The first is William H. Rose who came to this area early in the 1880’s to take up a homestead that would later join the new town site of Craig in 1889. Rose, seeing an opportunity began offering house lots to potential home builders very soon after Craig’s founding. This eight block area from East Victory Way to Seventh Street and Rose Street to Legion Street would become known as Rosedale the City of Craig’s first addition. Today the Rosedale area is the location of some of the cities most historical homes.

The builder of 595 Colorado was first attracted to Northwest Colorado because of gold mining in the Hahn’s Peak area in 1892. Edward A. (E.A.) Aiken was an excellent carpenter and had moved around a number of times before making the Town of Craig his family’s home in 1903. In his early years he built a number of homes in the surrounding area as well as Craig. He also worked with Alex Robinson and William Taylor, very well known builders in early Craig.

In July of 1904 Aiken bought five lots in Block 8 of Rose’s addition for $125. He began “getting lumber on the ground” to build his house in January of 1905. The Routt County Courier of April 6, 1905 announced the following “E.A. Aiken is now the proud possessor of a home in Craig, having moved into his new residence in Rosedale last Saturday.” The Aiken family would only own the home until August of 1909, when E.A. would sell the home to D. Kirk Shaw for $1000 and a $500 mortgage.

Shaw married Verda Taylor a young lady from the Axial area in May of 1910. They only lived there a few years before Kirk, who had gotten a job with the Forrest Service was transferred to the Lost Creek Ranger Station on White River.

The house became the home of Ed and Effie Haughey around 1915. The Haughey’s had owned the house to the South for a number of years but needed more room as their family grew. Ed Haughey was best known as the long term Moffat County Assessor during the 1920’s and 1930’s. Apparently they moved back to the house on the South in later years and rented this home until Effie sold it in 1948 after Ed’s death in 1947.

From July 1948 to August of 1961 it was the home to several members of the St Louis family from the Little Snake River Valley our neighbors to the North. It again was owned by several individuals and one company until it was purchased in July 1974 by Wade and Judith Johnson.

The Johnson’s began a major remodel soon after their purchase of the house which involved moving the house off its old foundation, and setting it to the side while pouring a new foundation that included a full basement.

The Johnson’s were transferred from the area in 1978, so the remodel was completed after the purchase by the Ray Beck’s in November of 1978. At this time the Beck family is closing in on being the longest term owners on this 103 year old house. The home at 595 Colorado Street along with several dozen more structures in the community continue to give shelter to our current generation of residents, while bearing testimony to the faith Craig’s founder’s had in the future of their