Walsenburg Attractions

Lathrop State Park, just west of Walsenburg in Huerfano County, was Colorado's first state park. Covering 1,594 acres below the Spanish Peaks, the park has two lakes: Martin Lake and Horseshoe Lake.

Walsenburg began as "The Plaza de Los Leones" around 1860 and then in 1872, Fred Walsen made plans for the development of a town. Housed in the 1896 county jail, the Walsenburg Mining Museum chronicles the coal mining history of Walsenburg. The museum also features life for the inmates in the 1890's. A bronze statue stands atop a memorial inscribed with local miners' names from the deadly coal strike in 1913-14.