The man who gave ³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø its start and his name was born February 16 in 1861. He died nearly 93 years later, on February 4, 1954. William "Billy" ³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø always considered Alamosa his home and is buried in the Alamosa Cemetery.
As a Colorado legislator who would later become governor, ³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø worked for three decades before obtaining the authorization to found ³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø State Normal School in 1921. His goal was to educate teachers for remote, rural areas such as the San Luis Valley.
With only a grade school education himself, ³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø came to the San Luis Valley in 1879 at the age of 17 to begin ranching. He is portrayed herding cattle in a bronze created by ³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø State alumnus Bob Booth that is displayed in the lobby of Richardson Hall.
Within three years, ³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø was mayor of Alamosa, a rough-hewn town in those days. The Rio Grande typically flooded each spring, turning Main Street to mud. Once the college was built, a hedge of Russian olive trees had to be planted along the campus edge to keep out herds of horses. Then, as now, potatoes were the area’s primary cash crop. But grain and vegetables were also raised, as well as cattle, sheep and pigs. The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad shipped them east.
³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø became interested in politics by reading in his spare time about law, history, government and economics. He was first elected City Treasurer, then mayor of Alamosa, and finally Conejos County Commissioner in 1883. Three years later in 1886, he was elected to the State Legislature as a representative and two years after that to the State Senate, where he served continuously until he was elected governor thirty-eight years later in 1926. He continued to ranch throughout his career.
The perseverance demonstrated by Billy ³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø in founding his teachers college also characterized those who took over the task of making ³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø State more than a dream.
