Aroya is a small, rural,
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
in
Cheyenne County, Colorado, United States at the eastern end of
State Highway 94 near its junction with
U.S. Highway 40/
U.S. Highway 287.
The name Arroyo appears on some older maps.
The town was named "Aroya" because of a gulch nearby
(''
arroyo'' is a Spanish word for "gulch"). The gulch is now named the Aroya Gulch. Aroya originated in 1870 three miles west of the present site as a camp for Kansas-Pacific Railroad track-layers, but was moved to the present site because there was a better supply of water.
The Post Office at
Wild Horse
The wild horse (''Equus ferus'') is a species of the genus ''Equus'', which includes as subspecies the modern domesticated horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') as well as the endangered Przewalski's horse (''Equus ferus przewalskii''). The Europea ...
(
ZIP Code 80862) serves Aroya postal addresses.
Aroya has an airfield (Maurer, altitude 4616 ft, inactive), a railroad (
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
), and a cemetery (Aroya Cemetery) within a one-mile radius.
Aroya also has an old
one-room school
One-room schools, or schoolhouses, were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and s ...
house that was in use until the early 1960s.
The JOD Ranch nearby (named for Joseph Ottmar Dostal, initials J. O. D.) was founded in 1883, and there have been ranching activities in the area since the 1870s. Dostal was born in
Rychnov nad Kneznou on 16 November 1842. When Cheyenne County was formed in 1889, Joseph Dostal was the new county's largest property taxpayer.
The airplane
landing strip
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concrete, o ...
s nearby were a private airfield on JOD Ranch property. The airfield was named after Bill Maurer,
[Conversation with a long-time ranch hand of the JOD Ranch, who also said Bill Maurer used the airplane to travel to Kansas City. 2011-07-03.] one of a number of subsequent owners of the JOD Ranch after it was founded by Joseph Dostal. The landing strips are barely visible because they were dirt and grass landing strips, and they were plowed under in the early 1980s in the process of an unsuccessful attempt to grow wheat after Bill Maurer sold the ranch. The building that was used for the
hangar
A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...
and the pole that was used for the
windsock
A windsock (also called a wind cone) is a conical textile tube that resembles a giant sock. It can be used as a basic indicator of wind speed and direction, or as decoration. They are typically used at airports to show the direction and strength ...
are still in existence.
Carl "Bev" Bledsoe, Colorado's longest serving Speaker of the
State House of Representatives, was born in Aroya in 1923.
References
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Unincorporated communities in Cheyenne County, Colorado
Unincorporated communities in Colorado