EARLY SETTLEMENT AT MANASSA
Hemming L. Morgan, with Dr. Green
At a meeting held in Los Cerritos
on February 3,
1879,
it was decided
that a settlement should
be erected north of Los Cerritos
and call
it Manassa
in honor
of the
son of
Joseph,
who was sold into Egypt.
The Mormons purchased
the land and surveyed it
into a
square of
one mile.
They, then
divided it
into sections,
or blocks,
of ten
acres each,
for the
Pioneers to settle
on.
Two sections,
or 1,280
acres,
were purchased
from the State Land
Board.
The west section
was used to build the
town of
Manassa,
while the
east section
was used
for farming
lots that
could be
purchased by
the settlers.
Very soon a log building was erected to accommodate day school during the week and religious services on Sunday and in the evenings. Alva Adams, an enterprising merchant at Alamosa, presented the people with a large and very ornate kerosene lamp set, to light the log cabin auditorium and, in this, the Manassa people “took much pride.”
Large groups
of Saints
were now
arriving not
only from
the South,
but also
from Utah
and Arizona.
This increased
the population
of Saints
in
Manassa very
rapidly.
By this
time,
the railroad
had extended
further south
and was
only three
miles west of
Manassa at
a place
later named
Romeo.
The extension
of the
railroad cut
down the
arduous and
weary trip
to Manassa.
By the
fall of
1879,
Manassa was
a thriving
community of
over 300
Latter-day Saints.
The first conference to be held in the San Luis Valley, where General
Authorities of the Church were present, was held in Manassa in August of 1879.
The first Post Office was established
in
1880 with the Post
master
receiving
for his
wages 60%
of the
stamp cancellations.
Mail was received
and sent three times a week.
At first,
the
mail
carrier made
the six-mile
journey to
Conejos on
foot.
On Sunday,
June 10,
1883,
the San
Luis Stake
of Zion
was organized.
The local authorities selected were:
Silas S. Smith as President,
and Richard C.
Camp and William Christensen
as Counselors.
The headquarters
of the
Stake was
situated at
Manassa.