Arriba Museum
Arriba, Colorado
If you ever lived at Arriba, Colorado, or even wondered about other people who did, or if you just wish you had lived at Arriba, or think you might, someday, stop there just to stretch your legs, then you need to visit the Arriba Museum at 711 Front Street.
This museum occupies one room of the Arriba Town Hall, and it's full of local history.
Arriba Museum
711 Front Street, Arriba, CO 80804
Open year-round Monday-Thursday 8AM-4PM
Call Arriba Town Hall 719-768-3381
This museum originally was located at Lincoln Avenue in a small house built around 1900. Bob and Shirley Coulson purchased the house in 2004 after it sat vacant for a number of years.
At the time they bought the property, the Coulsons intended to move or raze the house, but discovering it to be structurally sound, they fixed it up as a showcase for old family photographs and artifacts from Bob's maternal and paternal grandparents…all Arriba homesteaders, arriving in 1887 and 1907, respectively. This soon developed into Arriba's first museum, opening the summer of 2006.
The little museum attracted a lot of local attention, and soon other residents were donating or loaning items of historical value…including an entire collection of school annuals from 1925 to 1982. Other additions include a comprehensive history of the Arriba post office and a chronological record of Arriba’s history between 1888, when the first home was built, to 1937, after the Great Depression. This timeline is illustrated by a liberal collection of old photos, newspapers and household items used during that period.
Also on hand are books and local history articles written by area residents, and a complete collection of Grassland Anthology, an area literary magazine published from 1987 to 1991.
The Arriba Museum is handicapped accessible. Visitors will be greeted by local volunteers or by the Arriba Town Clerk who will be happy to chat or accept questions. Or, if you prefer, you will be left to an uninterrupted private perusal of the museum's offerings.
You don’t have to explain to anybody why you choose to visit the newest little museum on Colorado’s Central Plains. Just be sure to save some time for it!