Editing Aguilar, Colorado (section)

==History==
In 1864, a [[trading post]] called San Antonio Plaza was created by Agapito Ribali (sometimes misspelled as Rivali or Ruballi) at the current site of the town. The San Antonio post office was established in 1875, and at some point the settlement was renamed to Schultz Plaza after William Schultz, builder of the first store in the settlement. In 1879, J. Ramón Aguilar came to the area and bought the land in and around the settlement.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Walther |first=Lou |title=Old Names and Golden Splendors |publisher=Johnson Publishing Company |year=1983 |isbn=0-9612672-2-4 |location=Boulder, Colorado |pages=59}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Aguilar Centennial |url=https://www.kmitch.com/Huerfano/aguilarcent.html |access-date=2024-12-28 |website=www.kmitch.com}}</ref> The Aguilar, Colorado, post office opened on December 16, 1890,<ref name="CPO">{{cite book|title=Colorado Post Offices 1859–1989|first1=William H.|last1=Bauer|first2=James L.|last2=Ozment|first3=John H.|last3=Willard|date=1990|publisher=[[Colorado Railroad Museum|Colorado Railroad Historical Foundation]]|location=[[Golden, Colorado]]|isbn=0-918654-42-4}}</ref> and the Town of Aguilar was incorporated on January 18, 1894,<ref name="MuniIncCO" /> named after the owner of the land.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://history.denverlibrary.org/sites/history/files/Place_Names_of_Colorado.pdf | title=Place Names of Colorado | publisher=Colorado Council of Genealogical Societies | date=1999 | access-date=July 1, 2019 | pages=5 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171027102334/https://history.denverlibrary.org/sites/history/files/Place_Names_of_Colorado.pdf | archive-date=October 27, 2017 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1888, the Peerless coal mine opened close to Aguilar,<ref>{{Cite web |title=aguilarhistory.com |url=http://aguilarhistory.com/ |access-date=2024-12-28 |website=aguilarhistory.com}}</ref> and in 1892, the [[Union Pacific, Denver and Gulf Railway]] built a [[Branch line|spur line]] west from Acme<ref>Rand McNally and Company, ''New railroad, county and township map of Colorado'' (1898). Denver Public Library Digital Collections, accessed 27/12/2024, https://digital.denverlibrary.org/nodes/view/822146</ref> to Aguilar with an additional spur to the mine, which was absorbed by the [[Colorado and Southern Railway]] in 1898. An extension of the line was built to [[Brodhead, Colorado|Brodhead]] in 1900 to serve it and other coal mines in the area, such as the Empire, the Gem, and the Green Canyon.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ormes |first=Robert |title=Tracking Ghost Railroads in Colorado |publisher=Green Light Graphics |year=1992 |isbn=0-937080-01-2 |edition=10th |location=Colorado Springs, Colorado |pages=35, 39}}</ref>

From September 1913 until late April 1914, much of Las Animas County was embroiled by the [[Colorado Coalfield War]], which saw up to 12,000 pro-[[United Mine Workers of America]] strikers engaged in both peaceful and violent confrontations with the [[John D. Rockefeller, Jr.|Rockefeller]]-owned [[Colorado Fuel and Iron|Colorado Fuel & Iron Company]], other mining outfits, [[strikebreaker]]s, and the [[Colorado National Guard]]. On October 29, 1913, the Aguilar post office and several other town structures were destroyed in an [[arson]] attack related to the strike. The National Guard arrested several strikers over the attack and handed them over to the federal [[United States Marshals Service|U.S. Marshal Service]].<ref name=Occupation>{{cite report|title=The Military Occupation of the Coal Strike Zone of Colorado by the National Guard, 1913-1914. |year=1914 |author=Colorado Adjutant General's Office}}</ref>

Following the [[Ludlow Massacre]] on April 20, 1914, strikers launched numerous attacks of both coordinated and spontaneous natures against mining operations, strikebreakers, and the National Guard in what is known as the [[Colorado Coalfield War#The 10-Day War|Ten-Day War]]. One of the attacks was launched against Southwestern Mine Co.'s Empire Mine on April 22, where armed strikers forced non-striking miners and their families into the mine and began an all-night siege outside. After negotiation led by Aguilar's mayor and a church minister named McDonald, the strikers abandoned the siege before fatalities on either side were reported.<ref name=Suffocate>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1914/04/23/archives/30-besieged-in-mine-may-be-suffocated-mouth-of-slope-blocked-by.html |title=30 BESIEGED IN MINE MAY BE SUFFOCATED; Mouth of Slope Blocked by Dynamite Explosions Caused by Strikers. |date=April 23, 1914 |access-date=April 4, 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref name="Martelle2007">{{cite book|last=Martelle|first=Scott |title=Blood Passion: The Ludlow Massacre and Class War in the American West|url=https://archive.org/details/bloodpassionludl00mart|url-access=registration|year=2007|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-4419-9}}</ref>{{rp|186}}
[[File:Antonio Lopresto Building (Aguilar, Colorado).JPG|275px|thumb|left|Contemporary Aguilar.]]
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