ST. JOHN (1888)

Yuma was platted in 1885 and incorporated in 1887 as the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad laid tracks across the high plains of eastern Colorado. Yuma ("sons of the river") is the name of an Indian people on the lower Colorado River, one of whom supposedly worked on the railroad construction crew.

Yuma railroad workers, farmers, and ranchers welcomed the news that the Burlington was providing free passage for a priest, William J. Howlett. He arrived from Denver to celebrate the first Mass on October 2, 1887, then organized a parish, secured lots and drew up plans for a church. Wenzel Blach, Sr., a native of Austria, led volunteers who began constructing a humble building. Not until 1906 did parishioners celebrate completion of their white frame church, graced with a Gothic door and windows and crowned by an open, two-story bell tower.

Even during winter blizzards, folks dressed up in their Sunday best, hitching up their spiffiest teams and wagons to head for church, where Mass, the sacraments, and a tiny pot-bellied stove warmed both souls and bodies. Inside, parishioners prayed for rain, for an end to dust storms and grasshopper plagues, and for a resident priest.

Their prayers were answered when World War I drove grain and livestock prices to all-time highs, and prosperity came to Yuma, where the population reached 1,177 by 1920. In 1922, Wenzel Blach, Sr., finished the church interior--plastering the walls, installing floors and woodwork, and constructing an altar. In 1923, Bishop Tihen began assigning resident priests to minister to the fifty-two families of St. John's. "The man who took our parish through the depression," recalled Perry Blach, grandson of Wenzel Blach, Sr.;

was Father William Coyne. Before he went into the priesthood, he had been a hat salesman. People had no money, but donated eggs, produce, and whatnot, which Father bartered for stuff the church needed. As a skilled businessman, he got us through until 1941 when the rains finally came. The grateful faithful in Yuma and Akron chipped in to buy him a new, $750, grey Ford. It was Father Coyne's first car.

Clement V. Gallagher arrived in 1947, donning overalls to join his parishioners in erecting a red brick parish hall and rectory in 1948. Townsfolk of all faiths came from miles around for St. John's annual Easter dances, a welcome respite from spring ranch and farm chores. Father Gallagher, a bibliophile, built up a large parish library and also donated generously to the Yuma Public Library.

A new church was built by the next pastor, John McGinn (1961-1966). Menfolk of the parish tore down the old frame church and rented the vacant Methodist Church at 3rd and Ash streets while construction began on a modern, $106,000 brick church. On June 11, 1964, the auxiliary bishop of Denver, David M. Maloney, presided as parishioners celebrated their diamond jubilee and dedication of their new spiritual home. Within three years, Father McGinn and his flock retired the debt on their new house of the Lord.

The new St. John's seated 300 and its sanctuary featured exquisite statues from Italy and a large crucifix from Germany. The basement contained two kitchens and a dining hall for 400. Despite droughts and low farm prices that turned many neighboring towns into ghosts, Yuma flourished, reaching a population of 2,824 by 1980.

John L. Hilton, pastor since 1987, reported that St. John's eighty-two parish families observed their 1988 centennial with optimism and publication of a new parish history. "Cattle, corn, land, and wheat prices are finally going up again," Father Hilton said in 1988, "and St. John's, whose strength for a century has been its faithful and