Alonzo Hartman — or Lon as they called him — came to Los Pinos Agency south of what is now the town of Gunnison on Christmas Day 1872. He worked the remote cow camp around the area.
A strong and dashing young man, he fell in love with that remote campsite in the Gunnison Valley. In due course, he started the Dos Rios Ranch. He also began to think big. It did not take him long to determine the time was right for an established town. In 1873, he applied for the first post office in the area and built the building for it. It was next to his and business partner Jim Kelley’s small log cabin store at the confluence of Tomichi Creek and the Gunnison River.
Hartman, Kelley, and others began to lay out a town. Lon built several houses and a courthouse where his future bride worked in the clerk’s office. Many locals wonder why the town was named Gunnison and not Hartman. John Gunnison’s expedition passed through the area in 1853, leaving no trace of their passing, save for naming the river from which the town gets its name.
With the gumption of Hartman and others, the town became a supply community in the lush Gunnison Valley. As more ranches began to spring up, miners flocked to the area. It’s likely Hartman coaxed the railroads here just as he had the postal department. This bustling area saw the building of a real town by several individuals who once rallied for it to become the Colorado state capital.
Hartman married in 1882, and he and his bride, Annie Haigler, lived in a stone house in Gunnison before moving to his 2,000- acre ranch roughly where the airport is today. Hartman had built the first lumber-constructed home in Gunnison, and they lived there for a time. In 1892 he built a Queen Anne-style castle for his wife. It was complete with five fireplaces, stained glass windows, and a turret where Annie could paint while overlooking the Gunnison Valley. The castle, as it came to be called, was decorated with intricate woodwork, sweeping banisters, and beautiful floors throughout.
The Hartman castle was a symbol of the prosperity the West had become and, indeed, what Hartman helped create in the Gunnison community. There is an endeavor to save this 130-year-old castle for a community building, but first it must be purchased from the current owner. The group has seen some rather large donations to get to the fundraising goal, but has limited time to raise more funds. The Hartman castle is solid but in need of a new roof, up-to-code plumbing and electricity, and interior work. For further information or to donate to this nonprofit, visit www.hartmancastle.org.