Much like KRCC’s coverage area, the 719 area code stretches across the entire southeastern part of Colorado. The rural community of Avondale, about 20 minutes east of Pueblo, is pretty darn close to the center of that big area. That’s according to the Governor’s Office of Information and Technology in Colorado.
KRCC’s Mike Procell recently took a trip to Avondale to see what life is like around the center of the 719 Area Code Universe.
A friendly worker at the small brick-fronted Avondale Post Office was about to leave for lunch. But she took the time to call a friend, who she said would be the perfect person to talk about the community.
Not long after, Joyce Holmes showed up. The 80-something-year-old pointed to her car and said, “Get in, I'll show you around.”
When asked about her history in Avondale, Holmes said, “I'm a nurse practitioner and I worked for the school district, so I've raised half of the kids in this community.”
She’s lived in this rural farming community for 66 years.
“Everybody helps everybody else,” she said. "You can't find a community where they care more about each other. It's amazing.”
The community cemetery is just a short drive from the post office. The graveyard contains dozens of headstones, some decorated with American flags and brightly colored artificial flowers. It’s clear this is not a forgotten place.
“The Saint Vrain Cemetery has a lot of the old founders and they're mostly Hispanic”, Holmes said. “The people who originally lived in Avondale were more affluent than those that live here today, since the Army Depot closed and the steel mill phased down. A lot of people have either passed or moved to Pueblo, a lot of them because of health issues. We're pretty far from doctors. We do have the Avondale Health Center. But there's only a doctor here like twice a week.”
Holmes said it’s not just the older generation who’ve moved away. Some of the children who grew up on area farms have too.
“The kids have moved on to bigger and better things,” she said. “Most of them were very successful because they had good work ethics and they were good Christians and what have you, but they didn't want to be farmers.”
Many of the longtime residents came to work on farms, according to Holmes, but some agricultural families have stopped working their land, so the farming has become more consolidated into fewer families
Another nearby cemetery contains more history; it’s the Chico Cemetery off of Highway 50.
In it are graves from the Santa Fe Trail era when people were traveling in wagon trains and some of the travelers didn’t survive a diphtheria outbreak and had to bury their babies there, according to Holmes.
Avondale Veterans Memorial Park is across the street from the post office. Inside the gate are multiple memorials to local veterans, including a black granite tribute wall with hundreds of names and a mural remembering those missing in action and prisoners of war.
The community works hard to sustain this park, according to Holmes. At one time, they applied for a Great Outdoors Colorado grant.
“We got $10,000 and we did all of this,” she said. “Then a very good friend of ours, who passed away two years ago at age 100, gave us $10,000 because she loved veterans.”
A county commissioner suggested they use that monetary gift as a match to request another grant. And they got it. They used it for a decorative fence honoring the different branches of the military service.
“We were going to buy the benches and the tables,” she said. “But the community said no, we want to donate them.”
Not far from the park is the historic Avondale United Methodist Church. Sunlight shines through stained glass windows and chandeliers cast a warm light onto the unusual curving wood panelled ceiling. It’s one of four churches in this small community. Downstairs, the block walls of the basement are lined with historic photos, documents and books from the region’s past.
Avondale native Myia Gallegos works at the local community center. She leads a youth program there.
When asked if she knew that Avondale was near the center of the 719 area code, she said, "I honestly didn't. I knew it was a part of it, but I never knew that it was the center of it.”
Gallegos is a lifelong resident of Southern Colorado. When asked what she would tell others about what makes the region special, she said, “I definitely say family, of course, community as well. I feel like we all show up for each other when we need it.”
For Holmes, that’s a sentiment that rings true for the center of the 719.
“The community has always been a caring community,” she said. "So you move here, you become caring, whether you want to or not.”
If Avondale is the center of the 719 area code, Holmes said, she hopes the friendly, tight-knit community vibe here radiates out into the rest of the 719.
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