Mr. Sedivy's
History Classes:

More Features:

- Colorado History -
The History of Littleton, Colorado

Littleton 1910 Through the 1920s:
Chickens At Large,
Town Improvements, and Industry

1910
The population of Littleton increased to 1373.

Main Street in Downtown Littleton c.1910

1910
The Leyner Company was sold to Ingersoll-Rand.

c. 1914 - Littleton Hose Co. #2 with a new Federal fire truck

January 1, 1916
Prohibition was in effect in Colorado, but bootleggers in Littleton flourished - living along Windermere Street meant having a nasty reputation.

1916
Littleton was growing more sophisticated. From the Littleton Independent:
"Keep your chickens at home. ... Considerable complaint is being registered against the running at large of chickens within the town. ... If chicken owners persist in forcing this nuisance upon their neighbors, they will receive little sympathy if Mr. Chicken fails to return home for the evening. Beware!"

1917
A Carnegie-funded library was completed at the west end of Main Street. The idea for a local library was spawned in the early 1890s, with books purchased from excess funds not needed by the firemen. For many years, Mrs. Martha Crocker acted as a librarian, helping enlarge the meager collection of books, magazines, and newspapers.

Various community groups, particularly the Littleton Woman's Club, worked to promote the library from a mere reading room into a building of its own. Finally financial help came from the Carnegie Foundation, amounting to some $8,000. The library building was designed by local architect J. B. Benedict.

1917
Main Street had finally been paved, and a new sewer system and disposal plant were being completed.

1919
Citizens of Littleton voted to build a $100,000 high school on Grant Avenue to someday accommodate 225 students.

Main Street in Downtown Littleton, looking west toward the library, in the 1920s

1920
In 1920 the population of Littleton was 1626. Littleton's first High School was built on Grant Street, and the Littleton Town Hall was completed on Main Street. I.W. Hunt opens the first major auto dealership on Main Street.

1920
Littleton made an offer to Harliegh R. Holmes in 1920 - it paid the inventor $300 to start his factory there. H. R. Holmes had invented a powerful front-wheel drive that was incorporated into trucks made in Littleton. The Holmes Motor Company converted the old creamery on Nevada Street into a manufacturing plant. Becoming the Coleman Motors Company in 1924, the firm specialized in producing four wheel drive trucks.

Coleman Motors manufactured front-wheel drive vehicles including trucks, snowpows and tractor tows.

Later, the front-wheel axle was incorporated into two-wheel drive trucks made by International Harvester, Ford and others. The company became Littleton's biggest employer in the city limits for nearly a half-century at times hiring 100. It was last owned by Kansas City Southern Industries which closed the American Coleman Co. buildings on South Curtice Street (north of Arapahoe Community College) in 1985. During the 1930s, H. R. Holmes remodeled the stone home of Richard S. Little on Rapp Street.

Front-Wheel Drive Truck Manufactured by Coleman Motors Comapny c.1930

1923
Leyner Engineering became the Ingersoll-Rand Company and continued to manufacture drills and steel sharpening equipment. Increased freight rates forced the closure of the Ingersoll-Rand plant in 1931.

1926
Buses replaced Littleton's street car line.

Late 1920s
Littleton expanded its boundaries to the east to the Woodlawn area.

1929
Local boosters advertise: "Littleton is Center of the State's Poultry Industry." Local architect J. B. Benedict was hired to design a town hall building that would also house the town's firefighting equipment.

The History of Littleton, Colorado
1. | History of Littleton: Prehistory - 1859 Colorado Gold Rush |
2. | Littleton in the Early 1860s / Founding Fathers |
3. | 1860s: Lewis Ames, Littleton's First Teachers and School,
Indian Troubles and Early Buildings in Littleton |
4. | Littleton 1870 - 1879: Railroads, 1st Church, Highline Canal |
5. | Littleton in the 1880s: Avery Gallup, First Newspaper |
6. | The City of Littleton in the 1890s: First Mayor, Pickletown |
7. | 1900s: South Arapahoe County, Littleton Named County Seat |
8. | Littleton 1910 - 1920s: Town Improvements / Industry |
9. | Littleton, Colorado in the 1930s and 1940s |
10. | The Boom of the 1950s and 1960s in Littleton, Colorado |
11. | Littleton: 1970s to Present, Concrete Pods and All |
12. | Littleton Trivia and Stuff You've Always Wondered About! |

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- Colorado History In Depth -
Lecture Notes, Reading, and Information:

| The Cheyenne Migration to Colorado |
| The Gratlan Affair, Massacre, Fort Laramie Treaty |

The Cheyenne Social Club
| A Cheyenne War Story: Wolf Road, the Runner |
| Cheyenne Traditions and Beliefs, Sacred Stories |
| Horses, Warriors, War Pipe, Sweatlodge Ceremony |
| Cheyenne War Parties and Battle Tactics |
| The Scalp Dance and Other Cheyenne Dances |

Fort Union
| The Sante Fe Trail and Fort Union |
| Sumner - Ninth Military Department / The First Fort Union |
| Early Arrivals to Fort Union, Daily Life at Fort Union |
| Captain Grover - The New Fort Union, the Confederate Threat |
| Fort Union Arsenal, William Shoemaker, End of Fort Union |

Americans from the East
| Thomas Jefferson, the Louisiana Purchase |
| The Expedition of Zebulon Pike |
| Pikes Peak or Bust / Colorado Gold Rush |

Colorado's Role in the US Civil War
| The Civil War, Fort Wise / Fort Lyon |
| Mace's Hole, Colonel Canby, F.C.V.R. | Fort Weld |
| The Pet Lambs, John Chivington |
| General Henry Sibly, Battle of Valverde, Fort Union |

Cripple Creek District Labor Strikes
| The Western Federation of Miners / State Militia |
| The 1893 - 1894 Strike | The Strike of 1903 - 1904 |
| The Mine Owners Association |
| Crimes and Military Rule in the Cripple Creek District |
| Marshall Law in Cripple Creek District / End of the Strike |
Early Cripple Creek District
| Photos, Fire, and Life in Cripple Creek |
| Other Colorful Towns in the Cripple Creek District:
Gillett - Colorado's Only Bullfight, Victor, Independence |
| A Guide to the Miners' Gritty Lingo |

More Colorado History Information
| Bent's Fort Photos, Personalities, Plans, and More |
| What Was Easter Like at Bent's Fort? |
| Colorado Trivia, Miscellaneous Old Photos,
Western Personalities, Forts, and More |
| Lullabies for Jittery Cows - Cowboy Ballads |
| Heraldry of the Branding Iron |
| Project Aims to Clear Infamous Cannibal, Alferd Packer |
| Lead Gives Alferd Packer's Story More Weight |
| Legendary Colorado Love Stories: Baby Doe Tabor & More |
| Colorado Pioneer Women: Elizabeth Byers |
| Early Denver Jokes / The History of April Fools' Day |
| History of the US Memorial Day Holiday |

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