Centennial celebration marks new chapter for Nunn

By Dan MacArthur
North Forty News

An abiding optimism touted tall upon its water tower has helped Nunn to endure for a century while many of its high-plains neighbors literally blew away during the Dust Bowl days of the Depression.

Those traveling through the town a dozen miles east of Wellington can now indeed heed the tower's call to "Watch Nunn Grow" while celebrating the centennial of its survival Aug. 18, 19 and 20 in conjunction with its annual harvest festival.

Nunn will showcase the pioneer determination that has enabled the town to transition through tough times into a more prosperous future with a growing population once again.

The Denver Pacific Railway that revived the dying territorial capitol city also gave birth to Nunn in the midst of what was a wide-open, free-range prairie. Worried that Denver would wither after the Union Pacific bypassed it for Cheyenne, Gov. John Evans recruited local business leaders to form the Denver Pacific Railway.

Determined to establish a connection with Cheyenne, they convinced Congress to grant the railroad 900,000 acres in exchange for building the line ultimately connecting the Kansas Pacific with the Union Pacific. The railway company financed the line by selling some of the land and borrowing against other properties.

Work began in 1868, and the first train from Cheyenne arrived in Denver in 1870. With the steam engines came the need for periodic water stops that were to nurture Nunn and its trackside brethren.

The site was at first known as Maynard Junction in tribute to Civil War hero Lt. Col. Edward Maynard. It took on its current name, according to Northern Drylanders Museum founder and curator Ivan Wilson, after settler Tom Nunn prevented a catastrophic passenger train wreck. Nunn reportedly saw a trestle burning and rode furiously to intercept the train. In gratitude, Wilson said, the railroad gave Nunn 160 acres and established the townsite named in his honor.

Dale Barnaby, Nunn's postmaster for 20 years and now a museum guide, said the town's optimistic motto dates from those earliest days. "Watch Nunn Grow" was painted on the side of the township building, he said, and later elevated to the tower after it was built.

It was a bold but valid statement in those days, Barnaby said, especially when his parents and nine siblings moved to Nunn from the nearby now-abandoned cattle shipping community of Purcell. "It sure growed then," he chuckled.

Indeed, there was reason for such optimism when Nunn supported a bank, newspaper, drug store, lumber yard, butcher shop, two grocery stores, two cafés and even a corset shop, according to Barnaby.

Wilson still vividly recalls Tug and Dolly Wilson (no relation) constantly chewing tobacco on the porch of their store. When children would order an ice cream, he said, they'd hold their breath in hopes Tug or Dolly could contain their chaw.

But a series of calamities in quick succession knocked Nunn to its knees.

First, Barnaby said, Nunn's plans to import water from the Laramie River were thwarted by Wyoming after a substantial investment already had been made in ditches and a reservoir.

"That's when Nunn started going the other way," he said.

Then the Depression and accompanying Dust Bowl drove still more away. According to Wilson, many homesteaders sold their land back to the government and relocated. Those abandoned lands, Barnaby said, would become the catalyst for creation of the Pawnee National Grassland.

Next came the growing use of the automobile, allowing residents to readily travel to Greeley for shopping.

"Slowly but surely Nunn faded away as a commercial center," Wilson said.

He indicted the arrival of television as the final blow in shredding the social fabric. "It was a wonderful life because people went to see each other," he said. "Before television there were great friendships."

Ironically, the vehicles that once led to Nunn's decline may now contribute to its revival as a place to enjoy the high-plains lifestyle while living within commuting range of jobs in the region. Census figures show the town has grown by almost half since 1990 with nearly 500 residents today.

The town welcomes its neighbors in celebrating its first century and encourages them to "Watch Nunn Grow" in the next one.