Day # 28 feautures Keota, Colorado
The Methodist chrch and water tower at Keota
Keota dates to the 1880 when sisters Mary and Eva Beardsley built a homestead at the spot on the eastern Colorado plains in present-day Weld County. The sisters sold their homestead in 1888 to the Lincoln Land and Cattle Company. A few more farmers and ranchers establsihed roots at the spot.
When the Colorado-Wyoming spur of the Burlington Railroad passed through Keota in the late-1800s, it allowed the birth of the town- The railroad brought water, which was stored in the huge water tank on the northwest corner of town. The water tank still stands today and is emblazoned with the name “Keota” and can be seen for miles of the flat, open expanse of prairie surrounding the town.
Keota faded in the middle-20th century, the railroad stopped running through town, and tracks were ripped up in 1975. Most of the town’s residents moved away, the last in 1999. Up until very recently, those who grew up in Keota would return each for a reunion and picnic. At Christmas time each year, an unknown visitor still places a wreath on the door of the old Methodist church.
Keota today is uninhabited. A few modern homes have been built on the prairie near Keota, but no one resides in the town itself anymore. Weld County has a heavy equipment shed at the site, and oil exploration companies and workers pass through once in a while. A couple of homes, the church, water tower, general store, and some barns and sheds remain at the site.
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