Tribute – Bob Campbell
It is with heavy hearts that the Salida Museum board announces the loss of our beloved president, Bob Campbell.
Bob passed away at 9:30 a.m. Friday, October 23, at a Denver hospital with family and church members at his side.
We began to notice he was having health issues in February of 2025. A few months ago he was finally diagnosed with multiple rare forms of blood marrow cancer.
Bob’s Celebration of Life Service will be held on Saturday, November 21st at 1 p.m. at the Salida United Methodist Church, 228 E. 4th Street. A reception will follow.
In spite of his health issues, Bob remained dedicated to the museum, and most recently spoke eloquently of the museum’s history at the July celebration of our 50th year in the current museum building.
Bob became a volunteer board member in March of 2010 and was elected president in December of 2018, succeeding Susan Jesuroga, who was leaving the area. At that time, he had already been working at the museum for 11 years, since shortly after moving to Salida where his mother and brother lived. It was meant to be a short visit but turned out to be permanent.
He previously worked for Radio Shack and, at the time of his election to the museum presidency, he was also production manager at KHEN Community Radio. He became a volunteer at the museum at the suggestion of museum treasurer Larry Kovacic, who told him we needed someone on Wednesdays to turn the lights on and talk to people who visited the museum, that is to say, be a docent.
The collections at the museum fascinated him and he took the opportunity to put displays together, learn about the artifacts and share that information with visitors.
By 2014 he had been elected vice president of the nonprofit Salida Museum Association. That year he appeared on the Travel Channel television program, “Mysteries at the Museum,” talking about the museum’s famous fur bearing trout, a promotional gimmick created by Wilbur Foshay, who was Salida’s Chamber of Commerce manager in the 1930s. A local taxidermist put fur on a mounted trout, and the story was that the water was so cold in the Arkansas River (which runs through Salida) that the fish grew fur.
Beginning in 2015, Bob created an annual museum calendar, which always had an historical theme. In 2016, he helped reveal and restore the World War II wall of names on the F Street Five and Dime Store. These are just a very few of the projects Bob initiated and participated in with the museum and his community. Another was singing with the all-guys vocal group, “You’ve Got Male.”
In 2019, when he became supervisor of maintenance at the Touber Building (formerly the Denver and Rio Grande Hospital) and now the home of city and county offices in Salida, his passion for history continued as he worked to restore the “Boy with a Boot” fountain, a sculpture which was donated to the Denver & Rio Grande Hospital more than 100 years before. The sculpture survived a devastating fire at the hospital in 1899 and features a boy holding a leaking boot from which water pours. Restoring the fountain was a major project, but he succeeded in completing the job and getting it back on the lawn of the Touber Building.
At the museum he kept us in step with technology, starting the website, keeping the computer updated and maintaining a presence on Facebook. Just a few weeks ago, even with his health failing, while the rest of us were wringing our hands because we lost Internet when the Chamber of Commerce moved out of our building, he quickly contracted with a new provider and installed a new WIFI router to put us back in business.
Whoever takes over Bob’s position as museum president has big shoes to fill. His contributions over the years have been deeply appreciated, and it has been a pleasure to know and work with him. He will be missed.
Arlene E. Shovald Ph.D
SUMMER HOURS
The Salida Museum is still open Friday thru Sunday , 12-4pm. We currently do not have docents available to be open on any other days.
Admission: Senior $3, Adult $5, Kids $1
We are also available for visitation on other days by request. Please call Arlene Shovald at 719-539-3139 to request a tour. We will do our best to accommodate your request.
Greetings to our Museum Visitors
Harriet Alexander, the woman who had the foresight to start the Salida Museum back in 1954, would be proud and pleased to know we are still up and running in 2025 at 406 ½ U.S. Highway 50, behind the Chamber of Commerce. Harriet started the museum in a small room at the Salida Hot Springs Aquatic Center, right next door. By 1966 the museum had outgrown that space and efforts began to provide the space we are in now and once again, are outgrowing.
Our exhibits include pretty much everything about Salida history, beginning around 1880, when Salida was founded and became a major railroad center.
The museum is staffed by volunteers who are passionate about preserving the past. Summer hours are generally noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, and winter hours are noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Realizing that sometimes folks may be in town for a short visit at other times a volunteer may be available on “off days” by calling 719- 539 -3139. We will do our best to accommodate folks who are interested in learning about Salida history.
Welcome Back Steve!
Steve Chapman’s Salida Walking Tours start up again Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day. Steve brings history to life and shows you where it happened.
𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀
- 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗪𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗿 – Saturdays at 9:00 AM
Outlaws, brothels, railroad days, and the stories that shaped the early town - 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝘁𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗿 – Wednesdays at 9:00 AM
Architecture, preservation, and the people behind Salida’s National Historic District
In September, take a walk with Steve through Cleora Cemetery, Life & Death in Chaffee County, 10 a.m., Saturdays in September.
October gets scarier than ever with Steve’s popular, the original Salida Ghost Tour 7 p.m. Fridays.
Holy Nights & Mountain Lights Christmas tours run 5:30 p.m., Saturdays in December.
Since 2018 Steve’s Walking Tours have set the standard for authenticity and fun. This year Salida Museum is a proud partner along with other local nonprofits. For bookings, go to: SalidaWalkingTours.com. And, Steve is already planning a revised full schedule for 2027.
Welcome to the Salida Museum
The City of Salida, Colorado, Heart of the Rockies, is in a prime location for many reasons and this is reflected in its varied and colorful history. The Salida Museum has a lovely collection of beautifully curated, local historical artifacts to help you explore the history of our area. The museum collection was first displayed in 1954 and has continued to grow and improve since then.
Explorers, miners, and ranchers were among the first to settle in the area, aided by an early agreement with the Ute Indians. Gold and Silver discoveries in the region in the 1870s caused the population to boom. More wagon trails were laid in to connect the mines with the Salida area for resupply as well as with markets on the Front Range.
Soon thereafter came the big push by railroads to reach the rich mining areas around Salida and to cross the rugged Rocky Mountains. Following a protracted fight on many levels to build track through the precipitous Royal Gorge east of Salida, the Denver and Rio Grande railroad arrived in Salida and the Upper Arkansas River valley in 1880.
1880 was a very busy year for our town! The railroad launched Salida into a period of rapid growth and was instrumental in helping it become a real community. First, many of the residents of tiny Cleora moved two miles west to resettle where the D&RG set up their work center along the Arkansas River. This new community was briefly named South Arkansas. Then, a few months later, the town was incorporated with the name of Salida. At this point it was called “The liveliest town in Colorado” by the Gunnison Review-Press.
Salida means exit in Spanish. Depending on your perspective, this is an exit from the canyon and the gateway to the mountains, or an exit from the mountains and the gateway to the eastern plains. In a perfect complement to the Salida Museum, downtown Salida is on the National Register of Historic Places and is Colorado’s largest historic district.