Moe wanted to know how long the American Legion had been in that building on North St. Vrain.

“Since 1954,” I told him.

“Seventy-two years. That's a pretty good run.”

“The building's older than that.”

“What was in it before?”

“A government office.”

Moe looked disappointed. He'd been hoping for something with a better story.

Then I told him what the office was for.

There Was a Mountain in the Way

The building went up in 1939 for the Colorado-Big Thompson Project. The people working there had a problem to solve: much of Colorado's water was on one side of the mountains, while people who needed it were on the other.

Their answer included a tunnel beneath Rocky Mountain National Park.

Thirteen miles of tunnel.

“You're telling me they went under the park?” Moe asked.

“Under the Continental Divide.”

“And that was easier?”

I don't imagine anybody doing the digging used that word.

Work on the Adams Tunnel began in 1940, with crews digging from opposite ends. The first water came through in 1947. I found a good account on NASA's Earth Observatory website.

“NASA?” Moe said. “I thought we were talking about the Legion.”

We were. But NASA looks down as well as up. Earth Observatory made the tunnel its Image of the Day on June 9, 2022. The mountain view came from Landsat 8 imagery laid over elevation data from a space shuttle mission. It shows the country the water has to get through.

NASA didn't build the tunnel. The Bureau of Reclamation did. But I hadn't expected a trip through the Legion's history to take us to a satellite picture.

The little office building wasn't where they dug the tunnel. It was where they handled the project's administration. The Legion's building history describes a 23-acre project base below it.

Moe had pictured a desk and a filing cabinet. He hadn't allowed for thirteen miles of tunnel.

According to History Colorado, the building remained a project office until 1953. The next year, the veterans bought it.

The Post Came First

Post 119 was already more than thirty years old when it moved in. It had received its charter in 1920, not long after the First World War.

The post's own history dates the purchase to 1954. The building was formally dedicated on Veterans Day that year. In 1998, it was added to the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties.

It still gets used. The Legion hosts community activities as well as helping veterans and their families. You can find what's happening on Post 119's website.

The Eagle Down by the Visitor Center

The Legion also helped with a place you may have stopped at without connecting it to the post: the Veterans Monument west of the Visitor Center.

That's the eagle in the photographs Sherry F. sent us. It's a separate site from the Legion building.

Veterans Monument near the Visitor Center. Photograph supplied by Sherry F.

World War II Navy veteran Vern Mertz proposed the monument at a Veterans Day service. By the following spring, plans were moving along.

Town Parks Advisory Board minutes from 2017 show Thorp & Associates donating design work and Van Horn Engineering providing surveying. The selected spot had a picnic shelter on it.

Sculptor Daniel Glanz created the eagle. His commissions list dates the work to fall 2017.

The Legion helped raise money, plan the monument and provide the dedication's honor guard. When the organizers asked for a brass quartet, twenty Village Band members volunteered.

“That's a large quartet,” Moe said.

It's Estes Park. Sometimes you ask for four people and get twenty.

Mertz couldn't attend the dedication. His son-in-law, Craig Belshe, read his letter. Laurie Button's account on the Legion website tells that part of the story.

Next time you're near the Visitor Center, have a look beneath the eagle. The stones honor service in peacetime as well as war. Give yourself a minute to read them.

Moe said he would. Then he wanted to know what else in town used to be something else.

“We'll take them one at a time,” I told him.

He said that was fine, provided we started with somewhere that served lunch.

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY

The building dates come from History Colorado and Post 119's own history. NASA explains the Adams Tunnel. The monument story comes from the Town's 2017 Parks Advisory Board minutes, sculptor Daniel Glanz's commissions list and Laurie Button's dedication account on the Legion website. Moe's still waiting for lunch.