Pea Green Corner is an

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 Montrose County,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, United States. An agricultural community, its center lies at the intersection of Colorado State Highway 348 and Banner Road. Pea Green Corner is southwest of Delta, Colorado and northwest of Olathe via Colorado State Highway 348, which connects the communities. Pea Green Corner's name stems from the color of its community hall and general store. In addition to the store and community house, the former school stands near the community's main intersection.

History

The area was used by the Ute prior to their removal to Utah in 1881. After Herman Darling moved into the

Uncompahgre Valley The Uncompahgre Valley is an agricultural valley of the Uncompahgre River around the town of Montrose in the western part of the U.S. state of Colorado. The valley is bounded to the south and east by the San Juan Mountains and to the west by t ...

in 1884, he built a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

at an intersection known as Transfer, where lumber hauled off the plateau was sorted, graded, and hauled to Delta and Olathe. It was followed by the development of

well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

s along the Transfer Road, the first being in the current Pea Green area, a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

shop, and the schoolhouse. The community's name comes from the pea green paint, provided by the federal government, used to paint the school house after it was completed in 1887. Education through eighth grade was offered at the Pea Green School through 1962 or 1963. The Pea Green Community House, completed in 1927, was built by the Pea Green Community Club. The building is on the county heritage register and

Colorado State Register of Historic Properties The Colorado State Register of Historic Properties, administered by the History Colorado Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, is a listing of significant historic resources. History Colorado maintains a list of the Colorado State Regis ...

Geography

Pea Green Corner is located on California Mesa. It is northwest of Olathe via Colorado State Highway 348, which goes through both communities.

Economy

Pea Green is primarily a farming and ranching community with corn,

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onio ...

s, and

pinto bean The pinto bean () is a variety of common bean (''Phaseolus vulgaris''). In Spanish they are called , literally "painted bean" (compare pinto horse). It is the most popular bean by crop production in Northern Mexico and the Southwestern United Sta ...

s cultivated on area farms. Regional specialty Olathe sweet corn is grown near Pea Green.

Education

Public education for students in Montrose County is provided by Montrose County School District RE-1J. The Pea Green Corner area located in Montrose County is zoned to Olathe Elementary School and Olathe Middle and High School. The nearest college or university to Pea Green Corner is the regional campus of

Colorado Mesa University Colorado Mesa University is a public university in Grand Junction, Colorado. The university's other locations include Bishop Campus, which houses Western Colorado Community College in northwestern Grand Junction, and a regional campus in Mon ...

in Montrose, from Pea Green Corner.

Arts and culture

The Pea Green Community House hosts a seasonal bluegrass concert series, Pea Green Saturday Night. After fifteen years of shows, the series went on hiatus in February 2020 and resumed in January 2023. Pea Green Corner is also home to a twice-annual

vintage Vintage, in winemaking, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product—wine (see Harvest (wine)). A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certa ...

and antiques fair, Pickin' at the Pea. The fair occupies the Pea Green Store, former school, and surrounding grounds.

References

External links

Pickin' at the Pea
{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Montrose County, Colorado Unincorporated communities in Colorado