Christmas on the Plains

Limon (November 8, 2017) – Mark your calendars and plan now to head east on Sunday, December 3, 2017 for an old fashioned “Christmas on the Plains.” The Hugo Improvement Partnership (HIP) in Lincoln County Colorado is hosting a Christmas holiday tour from 3:30 p.m. – 7 p.m. that includes a trifecta of three historical sites, anchoring a nine-stop tour. Tickets and maps may be purchased from area businesses for just $8 per person, with proceeds supporting HIP projects throughout the year.

HUGO, COLORADO
Stop at the Lincoln County Hedlund House Museum, 617 3rd Avenue in Hugo, Colorado. This small and interesting museum will be decked out with an old fashion Christmas charm.
Nearly a century and a half have passed since William A. Hill, a Civil War veteran from Massachusetts, arrived in Lincoln County Colorado in 1870. Mr. Hill and his partner operated a general store and trading post, serving the new rail line constructed by the Kansas Pacific Railway Co. Hill filed his homestead claim in 1875 and platted the town that ultimately came to be called “Hugo.” In 1918, the Peter O. Hedlund family assumed ownership of the Hedlund house, and for the next 53 years, it was home to three generations of Hedlunds before being donated to the Town of Hugo as a museum. Two other stops to enjoy homes decorated for the holidays are on the tour in Hugo also.

GENOA, COLORADO
In Genoa, Colorado, visitors can tour a home that is decorated with more than 30,000 lights that light up nearly the entire town. In addition, visitors will have the rare opportunity to visit the Genoa Tower, which has been closed since the previous owner Jerry Chubbuck passed away in August 2013. New owners are in the process of restoring the tower and for the “Christmas on the Plains” holiday tour, it will by decorated for a drive by loop to see all the lights and will offer a stop by for hot chocolate and Christmas cheer. The tower, built in the early 1930s, at the highest point between New York City and Denver, was a welcome stop on US 24. Charles W. Gregory, Colorado’s P.T. Barnum, would stand on the Tower and spot license plates of approaching cars. When tourists were within earshot, he would boom state-appropriate greetings through a megaphone. “How’re things in the Buckeye State?” His billboard motto was Eat, drink, gas, and pop at the Tower. Gregory built the original tower of wood, then continuously added rock rooms until the complex sprawled over the knoll east of Genoa for several hundred feet.

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LIMON, COLORADO
Tour three historical homes, including one that is now The Primrose Tea Shop, decorated for the holidays along with the Limon Heritage Museum and Railroad Park. The life and legends of the plains come to life at this extraordinary small town museum which features the Limon Depot, Exhibit Building, and Railroad Park. Together, these attractions comprise a museum complex supported by the Limon Heritage Society. The 1910 Limon Depot, restored and maintained by Heritage Society volunteers, is a community treasure recently placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Formerly a “Union” depot servicing both Rock Island and Union Pacific railroads, it has become an anticipated stop for tourists and a much-loved reminder of the rich history of this “Hub City.”

Tickets and maps for the December 3, 2017 “Christmas on the Plains” holiday tour are available from area businesses for just $8 per person, with proceeds supporting Hugo Improvement Partnership’s projects throughout the year.