Mormon Pioneers

The Latter-day Saints who came here in 1878 were converts from the southern states, routed by way of Pueblo, and the Hispano families of Los Cerritos carried them through their first winter. The next year they laid out Manassa. On June 24, 1895, in a one-room log cabin in the town, William Harrison Dempsey was born, the ninth child of a West Virginia family. They left when he was a boy, and as Jack Dempsey he took the heavyweight title in 1919. His cabin, moved to the park across the road, opened as a museum in 1966.

What the plaque says

This memorial is the property of the State of Colorado Mormon Pioneers In 1878, Mormon pioneers came from the southern states and Utah, settling first at Los Cerritos. In 1879, they organized the town of Manassa, built homes, a school house, and place of worship from native logs. Settlements of Ephraim (1879) and Richfield (1881) and others having been made, the San Luis Stake was organized June 9, 1883. Erected by the State Historical Society of Colorado from the Mrs. J. N. Hall Foundation and by Daughters of L. D. S. Pioneers 1963

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Our Lady of Guadalupe — 7.6 mi