Las Animas, Colorado

Believe it or not, we wanted a Dairy Queen Blizzard! The closest one to our town of La Junta is in Las Animas, 20 miles away. The town has quite a history. Las Animas is a Spanish name, meaning “City of Lost Souls.” The town takes its name from the Picketwire River which is located east of the city and flows into the Arkansas River. The Picketwire was originally called Rio de las Animas Perdidas en Purgatorio ( the river of lost souls in purgatory.) Las Animas, population about 2,500, is the only incorporated town in Bent's County. Its an old one, a little shabby and worn out. However, it has one of the most outstanding and attractive Courthouses I've ever seen.

Right next to the Courthouse is this impressive building. Upon research I discovered it was the Bent County Jail, built of brick and sandstone in 1902 at a cost of $8,478. It served as the county jail until 2000. The downstairs contained the residential quarters for the sheriff and family.

 We decided to drive around (while eating our Blizzards) to see what interesting buildings we could find. This is St. Mary's Catholic Church.

 This huge building looked like it might have been a church, but it was obviously abandoned and had no signs telling what it had been used for.

 I couldn't resist taking a picture of this house which was painted all different colors. It was purple in the front, yellow on the side, and had a hodgepodge of colors all around.

We finished our tour of the town with this bit of humor on Super Bowl Sunday! The First Baptist Church was an ordinary building, but we loved their sign!