Holyoke, Colorado

A Brief History of Holyoke

Holyoke’s history combines plains agriculture with the commercial and civic institutions that served surrounding farms. August Emil Bjorklun homesteaded near Holyoke in 1888; raising and breaking horses supplied an early income before later generations grew wheat and corn. In town, the 1927 Reimer-Smith Oil Station illustrates the rise of automobile travel, retaining the distinctive house-and-canopy form used by many early service stations. The Phillips County Courthouse, constructed through the Public Works Administration in 1936, records another chapter: federal investment during the Great Depression. These farms and buildings preserve different parts of the community’s economic development.