History
The Four Corners Gem and Mineral Club in 2001.
The story of the Four Corners Gem and Mineral Club begins with the story of Brookside Park.
At just under two acres, and despite its small size, Brookside Park was a very popular attraction for early Durango residents. Its first registered owner, Robert Dwyer, was a homesteader who settled before Durango was yet platted. At that time, the future park area was a horse pasture. Its mature trees and easy access to Junction Creek drew Durango residents to this shore, for picnics and water play.
Dwyer sold this portion of his property to the Durango Railway and Realty Company in 1892.
The Durango Railway and Realty Company was very entrepreneurial. It ran a trolley between Durango, Brookside and Animas City. It owned and also subdivided a large parcel north of downtown Durango known as the Brookside Addition, some of which included La Plata County Fairgrounds and the current High School complex. Brookside Park was the railway company's real estate office headquarters. The Company also sold trolley tickets to local residents to visit the Park, where it projected silent movies against the outside walls of the real estate office for the enjoyment of visitors.
By 1913 the Durango Civic Club had erected tennis courts and playgrounds for the benefit of local residents.
In 1918, the City of Durango purchased 22 lots from the Durango Railway and Realty Company including Brookside Park. At the urging of the Civics Club, the 2 acre parcel everyone knew as Brookside Park was set aside for park purposes.
At just under two acres, and despite its small size, Brookside Park was a very popular attraction for early Durango residents. Its first registered owner, Robert Dwyer, was a homesteader who settled before Durango was yet platted. At that time, the future park area was a horse pasture. Its mature trees and easy access to Junction Creek drew Durango residents to this shore, for picnics and water play.
Dwyer sold this portion of his property to the Durango Railway and Realty Company in 1892.
The Durango Railway and Realty Company was very entrepreneurial. It ran a trolley between Durango, Brookside and Animas City. It owned and also subdivided a large parcel north of downtown Durango known as the Brookside Addition, some of which included La Plata County Fairgrounds and the current High School complex. Brookside Park was the railway company's real estate office headquarters. The Company also sold trolley tickets to local residents to visit the Park, where it projected silent movies against the outside walls of the real estate office for the enjoyment of visitors.
By 1913 the Durango Civic Club had erected tennis courts and playgrounds for the benefit of local residents.
In 1918, the City of Durango purchased 22 lots from the Durango Railway and Realty Company including Brookside Park. At the urging of the Civics Club, the 2 acre parcel everyone knew as Brookside Park was set aside for park purposes.
Model T camping near Denver in the 1920s
In the early 1920s, a national phenomenon grew up around the concept of auto camping. Model T cars, introduced around 1909, were enthusiastically repurposed for road trips and campouts a decade later. At camp, the vehicles, sometimes affectionately referred to as "Tin Cans" were often rigged to pitch tents. Travel by Model T was quite slow - the highway speed limit at that time was 23 mph.
Brookside Park became a free tourist campground. Vehicles packed tightly onto the dirt parking lot while social activities and picnics took place near the stream. Durango recognized the economic benefit of tourism, touted itself as the Gateway to Mesa Verde, and promoted the campground.
Brookside Park became a free tourist campground. Vehicles packed tightly onto the dirt parking lot while social activities and picnics took place near the stream. Durango recognized the economic benefit of tourism, touted itself as the Gateway to Mesa Verde, and promoted the campground.
An auto camp near Boulder in the 1930s.
The Durango Civic Club joined forces with the Lion's Club to create amenities at Brookside Park for its out-of-town visitors, including showers, bathrooms, laundry tubs and a tourist shelter. The Lion's Club built the shelter and the Civic Club provided all the furnishings. This shelter was later to become the home of the Four Corners Gem and Mineral Club.
In 1927 the Brookside Motel was built adjacent to the campground, to provide indoor accommodations for tourists.
In the 1930s the campground became a commercial enterprise. The City proposed to sell Brookside Park to the campground's operator, J.P. Ashcroft. The public hotly opposed the sale and the proposal was defeated by a margin of 10 to 1.
Auto camps were soon to become a thing of the past, hastened by J. Edgar Hoover, who declared in a popular magazine in 1940 that auto camps were the "new home of crime in America," a place where patrons could expect "disease, bribery, corruption, crookedness, rape, white slavery, thievery, and murder."
In January of 1947 the Four Corners Rock Club formed as an educational not-for-profit community organization, dedicated to the study of geology, mineralogy, and allied arts, as well as general rockology, according to its first meeting minutes. The first meeting was held at Marvin's Rock Shop. Thereafter the Club met in the basement of the Methodist Church. A building committee was formed to find a permanent home for the Rock Club.
On April 1, 1948, the Pilot Club, a fee-based kindergarten leased Brookside Park and acquired the old Tourist Shelter, which it converted to serve its educational purpose. Two weeks later Harvey Brockman and Reuben Hood made arrangements for the Rock Club to share its building with the Pilot Club. In lieu of rent, the Rock Club agreed to provide facility maintenance and repairs.
In 1927 the Brookside Motel was built adjacent to the campground, to provide indoor accommodations for tourists.
In the 1930s the campground became a commercial enterprise. The City proposed to sell Brookside Park to the campground's operator, J.P. Ashcroft. The public hotly opposed the sale and the proposal was defeated by a margin of 10 to 1.
Auto camps were soon to become a thing of the past, hastened by J. Edgar Hoover, who declared in a popular magazine in 1940 that auto camps were the "new home of crime in America," a place where patrons could expect "disease, bribery, corruption, crookedness, rape, white slavery, thievery, and murder."
In January of 1947 the Four Corners Rock Club formed as an educational not-for-profit community organization, dedicated to the study of geology, mineralogy, and allied arts, as well as general rockology, according to its first meeting minutes. The first meeting was held at Marvin's Rock Shop. Thereafter the Club met in the basement of the Methodist Church. A building committee was formed to find a permanent home for the Rock Club.
On April 1, 1948, the Pilot Club, a fee-based kindergarten leased Brookside Park and acquired the old Tourist Shelter, which it converted to serve its educational purpose. Two weeks later Harvey Brockman and Reuben Hood made arrangements for the Rock Club to share its building with the Pilot Club. In lieu of rent, the Rock Club agreed to provide facility maintenance and repairs.
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Newspaper articles from 1947 and 1948 announcing the launch of the Gem Show
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In one of the early meetings, the Rock Club selected the Notre Dame Victory March as its theme song, and held a competition for lyrics. Although the lyrics were not found in Club minutes, the Club voted to keep both the second and third place winners as "backup lyrics."
In the Club's first summer, it hosted the first Rock and Hobby Show in connection with Spanish Trails Fiesta Days.
A slab saw to slice rocks was installed later in 1948, and the Club's lapidary arts program was launched.
In 1949, the Durango Rotary Club and D&RGW collaborated to install Engine #315 at Brookside Park. It was installed next to Main Ave on what is today the parking lot entrance.
In 1953 the lapidary room was enlarged. A building fire also took place that spring. Two boys playing with matches set an outside corner of the building ablaze. Insurance covered the damage.
During the 1950s, Club meetings often followed the same sequence. First a meal was served and then a business meeting, which often began as late as 8pm, and finally some entertainment, which was often a slide show of someone's travels, such as one of the Club's most famous members, Olga Little, with her husband Bill. Olga Little was a famous mule packer who traversed the La Plata Mountains in all seasons and all types of weather with her string of pack mules to carry food and provisions to the mines, and to pack ore out again. She was in her 70s when she joined the Four Corners Rock Club and entertained Club members with her stories.
Despite having a very competent woman in their midst, a dispute broke out when the Club president refused to appoint a woman as head of the food and refreshments committee. Instead, he appointed himself and two other men as backup committee chairs. When one woman objected, pointing out that women prepared all the meals, he offered that women could attend some food committee meetings. She yelled and abruptly quit the Club. The Secretary noted that, despite the drama, there would still be food at the next meeting. Eventually the Club and society at large came to accept women in leadership roles.
Also during the 1950s Club members reportedly contracted "uranium fever," which was not a disease per se, but a manic obsession with collecting and selling the now-valuable uranium ore.
In 1959 the Joy Cabin was moved into Brookside Park, and was operated as a museum by the Four Corners Museum Association.
In 1960 the (much-cursed) metallic and multicolored speckled linoleum was installed, initially to cover the kitchen floor, but because enough scraps could be found, it soon covered the main room. Smokers were repeatedly reprimanded for throwing cigarette butts onto the new floor. These burn marks can be found today, every time a jeweler crawls around trying to find a dropped piece of silver or stone, which is frustratingly camouflaged by the still sparkly floor.
In the Club's first summer, it hosted the first Rock and Hobby Show in connection with Spanish Trails Fiesta Days.
A slab saw to slice rocks was installed later in 1948, and the Club's lapidary arts program was launched.
In 1949, the Durango Rotary Club and D&RGW collaborated to install Engine #315 at Brookside Park. It was installed next to Main Ave on what is today the parking lot entrance.
In 1953 the lapidary room was enlarged. A building fire also took place that spring. Two boys playing with matches set an outside corner of the building ablaze. Insurance covered the damage.
During the 1950s, Club meetings often followed the same sequence. First a meal was served and then a business meeting, which often began as late as 8pm, and finally some entertainment, which was often a slide show of someone's travels, such as one of the Club's most famous members, Olga Little, with her husband Bill. Olga Little was a famous mule packer who traversed the La Plata Mountains in all seasons and all types of weather with her string of pack mules to carry food and provisions to the mines, and to pack ore out again. She was in her 70s when she joined the Four Corners Rock Club and entertained Club members with her stories.
Despite having a very competent woman in their midst, a dispute broke out when the Club president refused to appoint a woman as head of the food and refreshments committee. Instead, he appointed himself and two other men as backup committee chairs. When one woman objected, pointing out that women prepared all the meals, he offered that women could attend some food committee meetings. She yelled and abruptly quit the Club. The Secretary noted that, despite the drama, there would still be food at the next meeting. Eventually the Club and society at large came to accept women in leadership roles.
Also during the 1950s Club members reportedly contracted "uranium fever," which was not a disease per se, but a manic obsession with collecting and selling the now-valuable uranium ore.
In 1959 the Joy Cabin was moved into Brookside Park, and was operated as a museum by the Four Corners Museum Association.
In 1960 the (much-cursed) metallic and multicolored speckled linoleum was installed, initially to cover the kitchen floor, but because enough scraps could be found, it soon covered the main room. Smokers were repeatedly reprimanded for throwing cigarette butts onto the new floor. These burn marks can be found today, every time a jeweler crawls around trying to find a dropped piece of silver or stone, which is frustratingly camouflaged by the still sparkly floor.
In 1960, the Durango Chamber of Commerce built a very modern A-frame facility in Brookside Park next to the locomotive. At that point, tiny Brookside Park housed the Chamber of Commerce, the Rock Club, a locomotive, a log cabin museum and a playground.
In 1961 the Pilot Club ceased operations, and offered to sell its facility to the Rock Club for $250. The offer was accepted. The Pilot Club's lease of park property was also transferred to the Club upon sale.
Sometime in the 1970s the Four Corners Rock Club expanded its name to the Four Corners Rock and Mineral Club. In 1984, the Club formally incorporated as the Four Corners Gem and Mineral Club, as it remains today.
In 1984 the Chamber outgrew its Brookside Park office and thereafter moved to Santa Rita Park. The A-frame building became the home of La Plata Youth Services. Also in 1984, City Council approved the removal of the Engine #315 from Brookside Park, and asked City staff to plant grass and install picnic facilities on the park grounds. The Joy Cabin was moved to the north end of Brookside, and eventually removed a few blocks north to the Animas Museum.
In 1987, the Club installed a new roof and successfully petitioned City Council to increase its lease from 5 years to 10 years, to protect the investment in its new roof.
In the 1990s, the Club operated under the San Juan Mountain Association for certain nonprofit advantages. The Club obtained its own 501(c)(3) nonprofit status in 2009.
In 2010, the Club made a stronger commitment to promote lapidary's "allied arts." The Club remodeled the interior, removed the old kitchen and installed solder stations and jeweler's benches.
In 2017, the City declined to renew the Club's recurring lease. The lease renewal coincided with plans for the Chamber of Commerce to return to Brookside Park, after being displaced from Santa Rita Park by a new water treatment plant. The Club petitioned its City Council members, who were supportive and subsequently presented the Club with a civic award and plaque for community service. But the lease remained unsigned for the next three years.
Later in 2017, the City awarded the Club an arts grant, to purchase enough hand tools to serve small school groups with geology and metal arts lessons.
In early 2020, the lease was signed retroactively. A City staff member urged the Club to use its remaining lease term to prepare a replacement building proposal, to be considered before the next expiration in 2027.
A couple months later, COVID hit, and shut down the Club from mid-March through early May, and thereafter restricted the number of people allowed in the building at any given time. The annual Gem and Mineral Show was canceled by the Health Department. In response to shutdowns, the Club expanded its field trip program to enjoy many Health Department-approved outings. The following winter as COVID infections increased, the Club created "bubbles," groups of 4 or fewer people who could use the facility as a designated group during specific hours and on specific days, twice a month. Many lasting friendships formed inside these bubbles at a time when were so few other opportunity to socialize.
As of 2026, the Club has raised more than $200,000 toward replacing its aging facility, mostly through admission sales at its annual Gem and Mineral Show. Building concepts, grant strategies, capital campaign materials and financing options are in place or are actively pursued as the Club evaluates potential sites for its new home.
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Sources: Gem Club Meeting Minutes; City of Durango Public Records, under the categories of Histories, Historic Buildings, Meeting Minutes, Agenda Items Packets, News Articles; Animas Museum Records.
In 1961 the Pilot Club ceased operations, and offered to sell its facility to the Rock Club for $250. The offer was accepted. The Pilot Club's lease of park property was also transferred to the Club upon sale.
Sometime in the 1970s the Four Corners Rock Club expanded its name to the Four Corners Rock and Mineral Club. In 1984, the Club formally incorporated as the Four Corners Gem and Mineral Club, as it remains today.
In 1984 the Chamber outgrew its Brookside Park office and thereafter moved to Santa Rita Park. The A-frame building became the home of La Plata Youth Services. Also in 1984, City Council approved the removal of the Engine #315 from Brookside Park, and asked City staff to plant grass and install picnic facilities on the park grounds. The Joy Cabin was moved to the north end of Brookside, and eventually removed a few blocks north to the Animas Museum.
In 1987, the Club installed a new roof and successfully petitioned City Council to increase its lease from 5 years to 10 years, to protect the investment in its new roof.
In the 1990s, the Club operated under the San Juan Mountain Association for certain nonprofit advantages. The Club obtained its own 501(c)(3) nonprofit status in 2009.
In 2010, the Club made a stronger commitment to promote lapidary's "allied arts." The Club remodeled the interior, removed the old kitchen and installed solder stations and jeweler's benches.
In 2017, the City declined to renew the Club's recurring lease. The lease renewal coincided with plans for the Chamber of Commerce to return to Brookside Park, after being displaced from Santa Rita Park by a new water treatment plant. The Club petitioned its City Council members, who were supportive and subsequently presented the Club with a civic award and plaque for community service. But the lease remained unsigned for the next three years.
Later in 2017, the City awarded the Club an arts grant, to purchase enough hand tools to serve small school groups with geology and metal arts lessons.
In early 2020, the lease was signed retroactively. A City staff member urged the Club to use its remaining lease term to prepare a replacement building proposal, to be considered before the next expiration in 2027.
A couple months later, COVID hit, and shut down the Club from mid-March through early May, and thereafter restricted the number of people allowed in the building at any given time. The annual Gem and Mineral Show was canceled by the Health Department. In response to shutdowns, the Club expanded its field trip program to enjoy many Health Department-approved outings. The following winter as COVID infections increased, the Club created "bubbles," groups of 4 or fewer people who could use the facility as a designated group during specific hours and on specific days, twice a month. Many lasting friendships formed inside these bubbles at a time when were so few other opportunity to socialize.
As of 2026, the Club has raised more than $200,000 toward replacing its aging facility, mostly through admission sales at its annual Gem and Mineral Show. Building concepts, grant strategies, capital campaign materials and financing options are in place or are actively pursued as the Club evaluates potential sites for its new home.
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Sources: Gem Club Meeting Minutes; City of Durango Public Records, under the categories of Histories, Historic Buildings, Meeting Minutes, Agenda Items Packets, News Articles; Animas Museum Records.