Editing Trinidad, Colorado (section)

==History==
===Early===
Trinidad was first explored by Spanish and Mexican traders, who liked its proximity to the [[Santa Fe Trail]]. It was founded in 1862 soon after coal was discovered in the region. This led to an influx of immigrants eager to capitalize on this natural resource. By the late 1860s, the town had about 1,200 residents.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://takearoadtrip.com/trinidad-history.html|title=Trinidad, Colorado's History as a stop on the Santa Fe Trail|website=takearoadtrip.com|access-date=March 26, 2018}}</ref> Trinidad was officially incorporated in 1876, just a few months before Colorado became a state.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.coloradomagazineonline.com/Cities%20_%20Towns/Trinidad/Trinidad.htm|title="Main Street Trinidad." Colorado Magazine Online|website=coloradomagazineonline.com|access-date=March 26, 2018}}</ref> In 1878 the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]] reached Trinidad, making it easier for goods to be shipped from distant locations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.greatamericanstations.com/Stations/TRI|title=Trinidad, CO (TRI)|website=greatamericanstations.com|access-date=March 26, 2018}}</ref> In the 1880s Trinidad became home to a number of well-known people, including [[Bat Masterson]], who briefly served as the town's marshal in 1882.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sangres.com/history/batmasterson.htm#.VFLcjVfSKx5|title=Bartholomew "Bat" Masterson|website=www.sangres.com|access-date=March 26, 2018}}</ref> By 1900 Trinidad's population had grown to 7,500 and it had two English-language newspapers and one in Spanish.<ref>American Newspaper Directory, 1900 edition, p. 94.</ref> In 1885, Holy Trinity Catholic Church was constructed.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=REtEXQNWq6MC&pg=PA143|last=Hellmann|first=Paul T.|title=Historical Gazetteer of the United States|date=February 14, 2006|publisher=Routledge |isbn=1135948593}}</ref>

In the early 1900s Trinidad became nationally known for having the first woman sports editor of a newspaper, [[Ina Eloise Young]].<ref>"She's Sporting Editor." Editor & Publisher, December 21, 1907, p. 11.</ref> Her expertise was in baseball, and in 1908 she was the only woman sportswriter to cover the World Series.<ref>C-N Only Coloradio Newspaper That Has Special Writer at World's Championship Games." Trinidad Chronicle-News, October 12, 1908, p. 1.</ref> During the same time, Trinidad was home to a popular semiprofessional baseball team that was briefly coached by [[Damon Runyon]].<ref>"An All-Star Team Picked by A.D. Runyon." Denver Daily News, September 15, 1907, p. S2.</ref><ref>"All Stars Defeated in Three Games by Hard Hitting Trinidads" The Chronicle News, (Trinidad, Colorado), September 3, 1907, p. 1.</ref>  
[[File:Colorado Baseball Teams Small.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|This photograph was taken in Trinidad, Colorado on Labor Day, September 2, 1907, prior to the final game of a three-game series between the Denver All Stars baseball team and the Trinidad baseball team.]] 
On August 7, 1902, the Bowen Town coal mine, six miles north of Trinidad, experienced a horrific gas explosion, killing 13 miners.<ref>"Thirteen Miners Blown Up in Mine Near Trinidad." Denver Daily News, August 8, 1902, p. 1.</ref> It was one of the worst mining disasters so far in the state; conditions in the mine provided the impetus for several labor strikes. At one point in late 1903, an estimated 3,000 miners, members of the United Mine Workers of America, went on strike.<ref>"Almost Unanimous Action By Southern Colorado Men." Denver Daily News, November 9, 1903, p. 2.</ref> In 1904 Trinidad experienced several disasters. In mid-January a fire destroyed two blocks of the town's business section, causing more than $75,000 in damages.<ref>"Worst Fire in Trinidad's History Destroys Two Business Blocks." Denver Post, January 12, 1904, p. 8.</ref> In late September, the Trinidad area and the region along the [[Purgatoire River]] endured an unusually heavy rainstorm, leading to severe flooding; the flood destroyed the Santa Fe railroad station, wiped out every bridge in town, and caused several hundred thousand dollars' worth of property damage.<ref>"Destructive Flood Sweeps Trinidad, Colo." Omaha World Herald, October 1, 1904, p. 4.</ref> As Trinidad continued to grow, a number of new construction projects began in the downtown area, including a new library, a new city hall, an opera house, and a new hotel.<ref>"New Opera House and a City Hall." Denver Daily News, February 20, 1904, p. 11.</ref>

====1913–1914 strike====
{{see also|Colorado Coalfield War|1927–1928 Colorado Coal Strike}}

Trinidad became the a focal point of the 1913-1914 [[United Mine Workers of America]] [[strike action|strike]] against the [[John D. Rockefeller, Jr.|Rockefeller]]-owned [[Colorado Fuel & Iron]] company, which has come to be known as the [[Colorado Coalfield War]]. The [[Colorado and Southern Railway]] stop that connected Trinidad with [[Denver]] and [[Walsenburg, Colorado|Walsenburg]] made the town strategically important for both the strikers and [[Colorado Army National Guard|Colorado National Guard]]. On April 20, 1914, just 18&nbsp;miles north of town, the events of the [[Ludlow Massacre]] occurred.<ref>{{cite news |last=Sylte |first=Allison |title=A 105-year-old tragedy in this Colorado ghost town shows the true meaning of what we're celebrating this weekend |url=https://www.9news.com/article/life/style/colorado-guide/remembering-the-ludlow-colorado-massacre-on-labor-day/73-731564b9-3839-4755-ac87-035e7241ec6b |publisher=9News |date=August 30, 2019}}</ref>

===Late 20th century onward===
Trinidad was dubbed the "Sex Change Capital of the World",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.westword.com/news/in-the-age-of-caitlyn-jenner-trinidad-is-no-longer-worlds-sex-change-capital-6965216|title=In the Age of Caitlyn Jenner, Trinidad Is No Longer World's Sex-Change Capital|first=Patricia|last=Calhoun|date=July 29, 2015|website=westword.com|access-date=March 26, 2018}}</ref> because a local doctor had an international reputation for performing [[sex reassignment surgery]]. In the 1960s, [[Stanley Biber]], a veteran surgeon returning from Korea, decided to move to Trinidad because he had heard that the town needed a surgeon. In 1969 a local social worker asked him to perform the surgery for her, which he learned by consulting diagrams and a New York surgeon. Biber attained a reputation as a good surgeon at a time when very few doctors were performing sex-change operations. At his peak he averaged four sex-change operations a day, and the term "taking a trip to Trinidad" became a euphemism for some seeking the procedures he offered. In 1995, [[Claudine Griggs]] published ''Passage through Trinidad: Journal of a Surgical Sex Change'' about her experience with Biber.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Griggs |first1=Claudine |title=Passage through Trinidad: journal of a surgical sex change |date=1996 |publisher=McFarland & Co. |location=Jefferson, NC |isbn=978-0-7864-0088-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/passagethroughtr0000grig}}</ref> Biber was featured in [[Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina|an episode]] of ''[[South Park]]'', in which elementary school teacher [[Mr. Garrison]] undergoes a sex-change operation. Biber's surgical practice was taken over in 2003 by [[Marci Bowers]]. Bowers has since moved the practice to Burlingame, California. The 2008 documentary ''[[Trinidad (2008 film)|Trinidad]]'' focuses on Bowers and two of her patients.<ref>{{cite web|title=LAFF '08 INTERVIEW "Trinidad" Co-Directors Jay Hodges and PJ Raval|url=http://www.indiewire.com/article/laff_08_interview_trinidad_co-directors_jay_hodges_and_pj_raval|work=[[IndieWire]]|access-date=September 5, 2015|date=June 26, 2008}}</ref>

[[Drop City]], a [[counterculture]] artists' community, was formed in 1965 on land about {{convert|4|mi|abbr=on}} north of Trinidad. Founded by art students and filmmakers from the [[University of Kansas]] and [[University of Colorado at Boulder]], Drop City became known as the first rural "hippie [[Intentional community|commune]]",<ref>Rabbit, Peter. (1971). ''Drop City''. The Olympia Press, Inc. p. cover [http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/~jmcd/book/revs3/dcty.html Review]</ref> and received attention from ''[[Life Magazine|Life]]'' and ''[[Time Magazine|Time]]'' magazines, as well as from reporters around the world.<ref>[http://www.cpr.org/news/story/colorado-was-ground-zero-hippies-68 "Colorado was ground zero for hippies in '68"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190424113151/https://www.cpr.org/news/story/colorado-was-ground-zero-hippies-68 |date=April 24, 2019 }}, Colorado Public Radio, February 12, 2015</ref> Drop City was abandoned by the early 1970s, but influenced subsequent alternative-living projects across the country.
[[File:Trinidad-co-downtown-panorama-rainy-june-2023.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Panorama of downtown Trinidad facing west on 1st Street]]

In 2015, Trinidad started to experience a new boom due to the marijuana industry. The town raised $4.4 million in tax revenue from $44 million in annual marijuana sales, about 5.13% of the state's total sales.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/1217%20Retail%20Marijuana%20Sales%20Tax%20%2815%25%29%20Report%20PUBLISH.pdf|title=State Retail Marijuana Sales Tax (15%) Tax Revenue from December 2017|last=State of Colorado|website=www.colorado.gov/pacific/revenue/colorado-marijuana-tax-data|access-date=March 3, 2018|archive-date=March 4, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180304172423/https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/1217%20Retail%20Marijuana%20Sales%20Tax%20%2815%25%29%20Report%20PUBLISH.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/04/20/health/trinidad-colorado-small-town-marijuana/index.html|title=Can marijuana money save small towns?|author1=Ana Cabrera |author2=Mallory Simon |author3=Sara Weisfeldt |others=Video by Matthew Gannon and Ken Tillis|work=CNN|access-date=March 4, 2018}}</ref> In 2018 ''High Times'' called Trinidad "Weed Town, USA", noting that its 23 licensed retail marijuana dispensaries serving less than 10,000 people amounts to one dispensary per 352 people. "In one downtown block alone along Commercial Street, there were five dispensaries in a single building in town which the owner referred to as the "World's First Pot Mini Mall",<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mexican |first=Daniel J. Chacón |date=April 2, 2016 |title=Colo. entrepreneurs have high hopes for marijuana mini-mall |url=https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/colo-entrepreneurs-have-high-hopes-for-marijuana-mini-mall/article_b977c728-8562-58f6-8322-5a73a1d800d3.html |access-date=July 31, 2023 |website=Santa Fe New Mexican |language=en}}</ref> others call it the 'weed mall'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hightimes.com/culture/weed-town-usa-how-marijuana-rescued-town-trinidad-colorado/|title=Weed Town, USA: How Marijuana Rescued the Town of Trinidad, Colorado|website=hightimes.com|date=June 18, 2018|access-date=July 25, 2018}}</ref>