Rocky Ford’s Valley View-Hillcrest Cemetery Placed on the National Register of Historic Places

Description: With the permission of the City of Rocky Ford and the support of the Otero County Commissioners, in 2022 the Otero County Historic Preservation Board applied for and received a History Colorado-State Historical Fund grant to research, document and nominate the Cemetery. This recognition is honorary and places no restrictions on the cemetery...

Rocky Ford’s Valley View-Hillcrest Cemetery Placed on the National Register of Historic Places

The Valley View-Hillcrest Cemetery in Rocky Ford has been given special recognition by the Department of the Interior-National Park Service through its listing on the National Register of Historic Places, the Otero County Historic Preservation Board (OCHPAB) announced. The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of our Nation’s historic places worthy of recognition and preservation. The register was authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and its part of the national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archaeological resources. This recognition is honorary and places no restrictions on the cemetery.

The Cemetery is significant under Criterion A: Exploration-Settlement as the earliest remaining cemetery associated with Rocky Ford’s settlement. Further, it is significant under Ethnic History-Asian: Japanese and Ethnic History-Hispanic for its association with the early settlement of Japanese in the area and as the resting place of many of Rocky Ford’s and the surrounding areas early Hispanic residents, some of whom were descendants of the earliest non-indigenous settlers in the Arkansas Valley and Purgatoire River Region. It also is significant as the final resting place of the victims of a 1957 train-pickup truck collision near Vroman, which killed twelve Hispanic farmworkers.

The Cemetery is also listed under Criterion C: in the area of Landscape Architecture for its unique combination of two distinct designs. As the name suggests there were two individual cemeteries, Valley View was the city cemetery and Hillcrest was established by Carl Ustick, Sr. and Millicent Ustick, the original owners of Ustick Funeral Home. Valley View’s gridded 1887 plan shows the influences of the Town/City cemetery movement, while Hillcrest’s 1923 overlapping oval plan shows influences of the Lawn Park cemetery movement which began in 1831 with Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

With the permission of the City of Rocky Ford and the support of the Otero County Commissioners, in 2022 the Otero County Historic Preservation Board applied for and received a History Colorado-State Historical Fund grant to research, document and nominate the Cemetery. Because of the Cemetery’s historic association with the Japanese-American and Hispanic communities, the grant received a waiver of the cash match normally required.

The second component of the project was to research and develop the first five “Untold Stories” relating the lives and contributions of Japanese-Americans buried at the Cemetery.

Working with a group of local advisors, story themes and individuals buried at the Cemetery were identified that help tell the depth and breadth of the Japanese-American experience in Otero County and the United States.

Listing on the National Register is an honorary recognition, which places no restrictions on the Cemetery. Maintenance and ongoing care of the landscape features, including trees, plantings, roads and structures are not restricted. Listing on the National Register protects the history of the community and those buried at the Cemetery and opens the door for potential grants to care for headstones and historic features of the Cemetery.

The project team consisted of Kathleen Corbett, PhD and Jane Daniels of Denver, and local historian Rebecca Goodwin. The efforts and contributions of many in the community made the project successful. These included: Sandy Konishi Dell, Bill Takeda, Donna Hirakata, Peggy Suto, Sumi Hiraki, Darren Garcia, Danny Chaparro, Otero County Land Use Administrator Lex Nichols, Rocky Ford City Clerk Rebecca Korinek and Cemetery Sexton Tom Valencia.

The community is encouraged to attend a presentation on the project and the Cemetery’s significance on Wednesday, September 11 at 6:30 pm at the Rocky Ford Depot baggage room.

More than 96,000 properties across the country, including nearly 2,000 in Michigan, have been listed in the National Register since the program began in the 1960s. The National Register is a program of the National Park Service and is administered by the states.

Each place listed in the National Register is referred to as a “property,” whether it is a single building, site, or structure or a historic district composed of hundreds of individual buildings. In 2023, fifteen individual properties and four historic districts totaling more than 146 contributing historic resources in Michigan were listed in the National Register.

To be considered for listing in the National Register, a property must generally be at least 50 years old, and must also be significant when evaluated in relationship to major historical events or trends in the history of their community, the state, or the nation. A property must also possess historic integrity – the ability to convey its significance.

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