LONGMONT, Colo. – The Longmont Museum is starting a new series of events commemorating the rich history of Longmont and the St. Vrain Valley.  “Longmont Week” is envisioned as an annual event that will grow in future years as the Museum’s new auditorium and education center become available.

While Longmont has never had an official founding day, on February 1, 1871, Peter Kelley, Seth Terry, and William N. Byers officially signed the Certificate of Organization for the Chicago Colorado Colony, predecessor to the town of Longmont. These three individuals had been traveling the state, looking for a place to start a new community, and had decided upon an area in northern Boulder County, near the town of Burlington.

Although Colorado was in its infancy in 1871, newspapers were already thriving. William N. Byers, one of the signers of the incorporation papers, had founded the Rocky Mountain News back in 1859. Even in tiny Burlington, work was underway to create a newspaper, the Burlington Free Press, whose first issue would come out April 26, 1871, as the town of Burlington was moving both its residents and even its buildings up to the new Longmont townsite.

With the transfer of the Longmont Times-Call collection to the Longmont Museum’s archives, the logical focus for Longmont Week 2015 was newspapers and their role in Longmont’s history.  We celebrate the ways that journalism has reported news and shaped our community.

PUBLIC PROGRAMS

Monday, February 2, noon

Special “Curator Conversation” in the Front Range Rising history gallery. Discover the history of early Longmont as told through this award-winning exhibition.

Longmont Museum, 400 Quail Road. Program is free.

 Wednesday, February 4, 6 pm – 7 pm
The First Draft of History: Newspapers and Journalism in Longmont, 1871-2015

Join Erik Mason, Longmont Museum Curator of Research, John Vahlenkamp, Editor of the Longmont Times-Call, and Ed Lehman, Editor Emeritus of the Times-Call, for a program on the history and future of newspapers and journalism in Longmont.

Held at the Longmont Public Library, 409 4^th Ave. Admission is free.

LONGMONT MUSEUM

The Longmont Museum is a center for art and culture in northern Colorado. The Museum’s permanent exhibitions highlight the history of Longmont and the northern Colorado Front Range, and its special exhibitions range from major artists such as Ansel Adams, John J. Audubon, and Edward Weston, to hands-on explorations of transportation, construction, and technology. For more information, contact the Museum at 303-651-8374, or visit www.longmontcolorado.gov/museum.

CONTACT: Erik Mason, Curator of Research, erik.mason@ci.longmont.co.us